The First Bride
by LightPhyre
Summary: Yui has successfully gone through the transition of the "Awakening", so she's safe... for now. She's also now half-vampire because of Cordelia's heart. And with being a vampire comes other privileges... true reverse harem romance fic, mainly between Yui/Ayato and Yui/Subaru, but includes all-Yui/Sakamaki brothers-Rated M
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

I sat at the large table with the Sakamaki brothers. They all quietly ate their food, which was a first. Kanato wasn't playing with his vegetables or talking to Teddy, his stuffed bear. Laito didn't say anything, which in and of itself was a miracle. Reiji was quiet, but that was normal for him, to be honest. Subaru actually sat with us and didn't scowl. He ate his food and looked quite peaceful. Shuu was quiet, but he didn't seem eager to leave and be on his own for once. And of course, there was Ayato, who I couldn't tear my eyes from. He also ate his dinner in serene silence. No one was saying a word to me, and for the first time I was beginning to mind. In the past, all I wanted to do was be on my own in this house, and have everyone leave me alone, but after the events that occurred almost a week ago, I got my wish. And I didn't actually like it.

It was strange— the feelings I was having towards the brothers now. It was something I hadn't expected. It almost felt like I was part of the family. No one had taken my blood in the past week either, which was strange. I wondered what had happened to them while I was asleep. Or more accurately, when I was dead.

I remembered barely anything from when Cordelia was inside my body, controlling me. All I could think about was that she had been about to hurt Ayato and Subaru and I had to do something. I remembered thinking that I couldn't let them get hurt… So I stabbed myself with Subaru's knife. I remember hearing my voice telling Ayato something as he held my body, but it wasn't me. It was Cordelia. I couldn't remember what she'd said to him. Then I remembered being on the couch, and that's when I died… I think. After that, I woke up… And they were all around me, watching over me it seemed. When I saw them all there, I felt something I'd never felt before. And that was this sense of family. No matter how many times they'd bitten me and taken my blood and done what they pleased, I still believed that they cared. They were all there, and I knew that they were relieved when I opened my eyes. It was everyone's expressions. They were all content. It was different from their usual expressionless faces. I could tell that much at least. And I remembered waking up… and the first thing I saw was Ayato's smirk. He had been relieved as well. I remembered hearing it in his voice.

But that was it. I went back to my room to rest because I didn't feel very good, and when I woke up, things were like this. Everyone was quiet. The only words I exchanged with them since were hello's and simple, formal speech. I should have asked what happened while I was dead, but I couldn't bring myself to ask it. I don't know why. Maybe I didn't want to know. Maybe I felt like it didn't matter. I knew for certain that I was happy here now. Or at least content. I didn't feel like I had to fear any of them anymore, and yet the silence was unnerving to me.

"You're not hungry?"

I looked up at the sound of Reiji's voice and noticed that everyone else had stopped eating and were staring at him as well. I was taken back by the fact that he didn't insult my manners and instead asked a question like that.

"It's not that…" I said. "I'm just… worried, I guess."

"Hm."

And then he went back to eating. The others did the same and I looked down at my plate in embarrassment. I thought he would at least ask me why I was worried, but I guess not.

I couldn't be mad at them for things that I considered normal, such as asking why I'm worried, because they don't think like normal people. They think like vampires. Just like they took my blood without asking or without notice, that was normal for them. It wasn't that I accepted it or dealt with it, but at least I understood their reasons. And even so, I always asked them to stop, even though I know it's always in vain. But that's how they are. Sometimes I wish they were different, or understood that, to me, pain like that wasn't something I enjoyed or wanted from them. But I knew explaining it only made them laugh. They thought many human ideals were funny. Just as I thought many vampire ideals were despicable. But that was just the kind of relationship we had, I guess.

"Could you tell me what happened?" I asked. It was an open invite for anyone to respond, but only Reiji acknowledged my question. He frowned.

"To what are you referring?"

"When I… well… when Cordelia—"

"I hope you know that no one wishes to talk about these things during dinner. I really wish you would learn some respect. The table is no place to hold conversations such as the one you are trying to force on us. It's very rude."

There was his manners comment. I knew it had to come out eventually. Whenever he didn't want to talk or he was aggravated, he brought up how awful my manners were. And that was just in his eyes. I could look the wrong way and he'd say I'm being disrespectful and impolite. I didn't always agree with him either. I wasn't trying to force anything on anybody. I was just trying to get a few words out of everyone. Maybe bringing up the incident with Cordelia wasn't the best way to do that, but it was still a conversation to be had.

"I'm sorry," I said, but everyone had already gone back to finishing their meals.

The first one to stand was Shuu, as expected. He didn't say a word or even take his plate. He just stood for a moment and then walked out of the room. The second was Subaru. He finished and vanished. He didn't even bother to let anyone know he was leaving. I just looked up and blinked and he was gone. I looked down at my plate and realized I was barely half done with my food. I was still hungry, but the awkward silence made it difficult for me to eat.

Then Laito and Kanato were gone without notice or word as well. I sighed and I heard Reiji mumble something under his breath about sighing at the dinner table. I held my fork in one hand and sat there in more silence.

Then Ayato stood, and I had to look up at him. He wasn't going to just leave, too, was he? Without a word? He glanced at me and our eyes met. I knew mine were almost pleading, and they all thought of that as a disgusting weakness, but Ayato didn't frown or scowl at me. He blinked naturally a couple times before breaking our eye contact and walking calmly out the door at a human pace. I looked back down at my plate, feeling upset. Why were they all acting like this? I didn't understand. What happened while I was asleep? Or was it something else? I needed to know.

I looked up, determination setting in, preparing to ask Reiji anything I felt like asking, but as I lifted my eyes, he was gone as well. So was everything on the table. He had even taken my plate. I was still hungry… The fork was still in my hand, but the room was spotless and everyone was gone. I pursed my lips in depression and stood. I pushed in my chair and headed for the hall.

I wanted to see one of them on the way to my room so I could try and talk to someone, but no one revealed themselves to me. No one wanted to talk. No one even wanted to take my blood. I didn't mind that part but it was still strange.

I opened the door to my room and saw Shuu lying down on my bed, one leg up and a hand behind his head. I blinked a few times to make sure he was really there and then gently closed the door behind me. I knew he liked it quiet, because he was always listening to his music, so I tried to be as quiet as possible as I crawled onto my bed next to him.

I paused before saying anything. "…Shuu-san?" His name came out quiet and slow, which was how I wanted it. He didn't reply, but I knew he knew I was there, and I knew he had heard me. I was sitting upright, almost over him. I looked down at his face. His eyes were closed and he looked so relaxed, as if he was sleeping, as always.

He slowly opened one eye and looked at me before slowly closing it again. It was probably just to let me know he'd heard me and knew I was there, just in case I didn't realize it. He thought so low of humans, and yet he was considerate enough to do that anyway. Sometimes I didn't get him. Sometimes I thought maybe I think too much about the things he does.

And yet, here he was, in my room, on my bed. He never came in here. Maybe there was something he wanted to tell me. Or maybe he just felt bad because no one had been talking to me recently. But because I didn't think that any of the brothers really, truly felt bad about anything, I assumed he had something to say to me.

But I didn't want to ask him outright. He was easily annoyed and I wasn't sure if immediately prying for an answer would make him want to leave.

A slight noise from near the door made me turn around. Subaru was leaning against the wall beside my long mirror, his arms crossed and his head down, his eyes closed.

"Subaru-kun…"

Why were the two of them in here? I didn't understand what was going on, but a part of me decided just to go with it. It was nice to have some company for the first time in a week, but I wondered if they were both just going to be silent again.

"What's going on—Ungh!"

I gasped as Shuu grabbed me around my waist and pulled me down on top of him. My head hit his chest and my eyes widened a bit. But then his grasp on me loosened and his hand just rested on my back. I could feel my heartbeat speed up a bit, and I knew both of them could feel it as well. They knew when my blood flowed a little hotter and faster than usual. In fact, they'd never let me forget it. But it didn't seem like they wanted my blood this time I became so flustered.

I couldn't deny that lying on top of Shuu like a pillow was comforting, so, aware that it was something Reiji may call inappropriate, I closed my eyes and let myself try and fall asleep. I hadn't brushed my teeth or changed out of my house clothes yet, but I was still tired from the humdrum day and it was already dark outside my window.

I'd never done this before. To be more exact, Shuu had never done this before and allowed me to do it as well. I was so close to him that I could have sworn I could hear a part of his music. Just a simple beat, maybe.

I jumped slightly when I felt the other side of the bed move down as someone sat down behind me. I assumed it was Subaru, but before I could adjust myself, another hand was on me, and I knew it was Subaru's. He brushed the back of his hand against my shoulder blade once before resting it on my shoulder, on the indent of my neck. At first I thought he was going to bite me, but his hand just stayed like that, and neither he nor Shuu moved at all. They were silent statues. I always thought that vampires wouldn't have body heat, but they both did, and I could feel it hitting me in waves. It wasn't too hot, but it was enough to keep me warm enough to feel tired again, and before I knew it, I was invited to a peaceful respite of sleep.

Somewhere along the line, Shuu must have gotten up and Subaru must have moved closer, because when I opened my eyes, I could feel his full body against my back, and his hand on my shoulder had sneaked around and was holding me against him by my waist. His grasp was tight but not painful. In fact, it felt nice to be held tight like this.

Not sure if it would wake him, and not sure if he was even asleep, I moved my one hand to cover his on my stomach and something moved under my head. I noticed his other arm was bent at the elbow beneath the pillow under my head.

"Hm."

I heard him make a noise into my hair as what felt like a nuzzle came from behind me. My eyes lidded. Why was he acting like this? It made me happy, but worried and upset at the same time. I didn't know why my feelings were doing this, either. It was almost as if something was wrong, and I could feel it bothering Subaru, and that's what bothered me. But in all honesty, I didn't really know.

I let my thumb drag back and forth on the back of his hand, and I knew he was awake, so I knew he was letting me, which was strange, but not entirely out of character like Shuu had been last night. I wished there was something else I could do for him, feeling like I needed to do something to make him feel better. But I was confused because why would he be upset? Was he even upset, really, or was it all just in my head? I knew something was going on with the whole family, but I never stopped to think about what each brother was thinking about.

If Subaru really was upset or confused or whatever he was feeling, if he and Shuu came here last night, maybe they were looking for something to make it feel better. Me?

I moved so that I was lying on my back and I turned my head to look at him. His eyes were closed, but I knew he was awake. His arm still draped over me, and I felt discomfort about being so close to him in my bed, but I shoved it down.

"Subaru-kun?"

He slowly opened his eyes, but he was looking down, not at me.

"Shut up," he whispered.

I frowned and felt a tight pull on my emotions that made water come to my eyes. Nothing spilled over so I shoved it down and wiggled so both my hands were free. Now that I heard his voice I knew that something was wrong. Something was upsetting him, and in his own way, I knew this was him asking for help from the only person in this house who would give it to him. With all his vampire strength and speed, he still had feelings and even with his immortality he could still be hurting.

I slowly moved one arm to wrap around him and I tucked the other between us, my palm against his chest. I was surprised when he let me hug him. It was a very human thing to do, so to speak, and I'd noticed from my time here that vampires didn't always feel what a hug meant, but Subaru seemed to understand. He closed his eyes and I felt his breath when he exhaled slowly. Vampires didn't need to breathe, either, but sometimes they did it anyway.

And we just stayed like that for what seemed like an hour. As I was half-asleep, ready to go under again, I fell forward, into an empty space, and my face hit my pillow. I jumped and lifted my head, looking around.

Subaru was gone.

I spent another hour or so in my room by myself after Subaru had left, just because I didn't want to go out into the house and see one of them. I didn't know why, but I just didn't want to. Maybe it would be too awkward for me. But after a little time passed, I sat up and walked over to my dresser. I changed out of yesterday's house clothes and put on a fresh shirt and pair of shorts.

I remembered thinking that Shuu had something to tell me, and I wanted to know if that was true. Maybe he hadn't said anything because Subaru was there, or maybe he wanted to but I had fallen asleep too quickly. Or maybe I was making it out to be something it wasn't and he'd just felt like sleeping in my room for a bit. He always did what he felt like doing anyway. I wouldn't be surprised.

It was Monday, so that got my hopes up a bit. We all had classes tonight, and Monday meant I had swimming class as well. Ever since Ayato figured out that I couldn't swim, he had changed his schedule to be in my swimming class. That was in the first few days that I'd known him, too. Maybe he cared back then and I just didn't realize it? Or maybe I was overthinking things again and he just wanted to be near me because back then I was always trying to get away from them, and they had to keep an eye on me so I wouldn't leave. Now though, I didn't even think about leaving anymore. Near the end, it was difficult for me because my blood changed during the Awakening and having Cordelia manifest inside of me made me almost intoxicating to the Sakamaki brothers. I was almost positive one of them would drink me dry. But from what I remember, it was Ayato who stopped Laito and Kanato from sharing me to my death. It was also Ayato who made a strange proposal during that time. I knew it was only because my blood had smelled so sweet to them all at that time, but his words still came back to me sometimes.

Anyway, I was excited to finally be alone with Ayato tonight. He was always the most willing to talk to me and I knew that if I asked him some questions he was bound to give me an answer to at least a couple of them. Unfortunately, his obsession with owning me often made him the most prone to taking my blood as well, but he hadn't drank from me, same as the others, since before the events of last week. I almost felt as if taking my blood would be a relief of sorts. It would at the very least make things feel like they might get back to normal.

But then I wondered if normal was really what I wanted. If things went back to normal, so to say, then they would all just drink from me when they pleased, without warning, and I hated that. Now, when they did interact with me, it was almost in a way that made them seem… well, human. They still would never act like humans, because they weren't, but it was nice to be able to understand them better. And this way, I could. I could feel that something was wrong with Subaru last night, and I knew that something was up with Shu as well. In the past, I would always have to go looking for them, and then they would drink from me. Or they would just show up and drink from me as well. Living here and not feeling like I'm just some lamb for them to feed on made me happy. I felt bad about it, but I wished that they could just be human, and we could just have normal interactions. It wasn't always easy for me when I had to decipher what they wanted or what was going on in their heads. It wasn't some fun puzzle for me to figure out. It was confusing, and it sometimes got me hurt, physically and emotionally…

I found myself very attached to each one of them. They were unique in their own special ways, and they each had their own personalities, same as humans. But as vampires, they did things that often seemed cruel and heartless. But from what I've learned since I came to this house, those things that I find heartless and cruel have other meanings as well.

For instance, when Subaru gave me his knife, and Laito found out, he told me that murder was one form of expressing love for someone. It sounded outrageous at the time, but after having time to think about his words, it almost made sense. When they bit me, it hurt me, and it could be an expression of caring. I got this idea from Ayato. When he would say certain things before drinking from me, it gave me that impression. But I also concluded that drinking a person's blood didn't necessarily mean that someone cared about you. In the beginning, they did it because they're vampires and that's just what they do to what they call their prey. But, even though it feels the same, there can be a difference. I've felt them use it to express caring as well as hate, and I've felt them do it just for fun or because they wanted to. I've felt them drink from me when they're parched and they need it, and also when they aren't thirsty at all, and it's for a different reason. Reiji used to do it for punishment. Ayato used to refuse to do it because he felt bad. He also did it once when he wanted to express that he cared whether I lived or died. Laito does it mostly for pleasure, both his and mine in his own ridiculous way, Kanato just for fun, Shuu because he's just thirsty, and Subaru when he's aggravated or confused. It's different for each of them. And while I used to find it difficult to figure out how they felt, now I found it easier to do, almost like figuring out another human's emotions. In a way, I didn't think they were so different from humans after getting to know them. They liked to say that they were, but I could see the many similarities as well.

So now I wanted to figure out why no one was drinking from me, or even talking to me for that matter. Shuu always got thirsty every few days or so, and it had been over a week since the last time he fed on me. And he was in my room last night. He didn't seem interested in my blood, even when I got flustered when he pulled me on top of him. I knew that was a rush for them. They could feel when my pulse rose and my blood got hotter, and in a sense it was a turn on for them and make them want to drink. But it didn't seem to affect Shuu or Subaru last night. Instead, they acted like emotionally hurt humans, looking for comfort of some kind. They were almost like children, I realized. And then I realized that they were just children, in a sense. In vampire terms, even though they were much older than me because they're immortal, but in vampire years, they must be about the same age as me. And they were all brothers, living together, going to high school. It almost made sense, if I thought about it in that crazy way.

But I had to say that the brother I was most attached to was Ayato. Just because of the things he's done to me and what I've gone through since I arrived in this house. He was always different than his brothers. He always treated me differently. Even before all of this happened, even on the very first day, I could tell he didn't always think of me as just prey. And slowly, I knew that his attitude towards me grew more and more against that. The only others who might have done the same were Shuu and Subaru. But I knew for a fact that Kanato never liked me in the beginning. He would have killed me a couple of times if not for the others stopping him and reminding him that I was supposed to be alive by the time their uncle got there. Laito used me to the point where I could say he sexually harassed me… violently. He always did what he pleased. Even now, I believe that he still might think about it from time to time. And Reiji was so stuck in his ways that he wouldn't go as far in his punishments for my behaviors that he didn't agree with, but he would still think punishment was required. But as for those three… I knew that at this point the worst thing they would ever do to me is take a little too much blood when they were thirsty or irritated or whatever. I was also confident that they would protect me if the others tried anything. But even so, I knew that Reiji, Laito and Kanato cared for me as well, in their own ways.

With all the thoughts bustling around in my head, I let myself get lost in them. I still didn't want to exit my bedroom and meet with any of them just yet, especially after having such emotional thoughts. I often believed that they could all tell when I felt something deeply, and it was something more than my pulse or the temperature of my blood. I felt as if they could feel it, like a prickling on their skin or something like that. I was curious to ask, but still not curious enough to leave my room.

Instead, I took the seat in front of my vanity and began brushing my hair. I looked at my skin and analyzed my face. I hadn't done it in a long time, but the last time I checked, I had bags under my eyes and my skin was unusually pale. Now, I seemed healthier. My skin, my hair, my eyes… I looked good. I'd never been a vain person, so I turned away from the mirror and finished brushing my hair with my eyes on the ground.

It was almost time for school. I'd been spending the day reading through a few books in the large toy chest beside the window. They were all fairytales about the typical damsel in distress and some brave man who comes to her rescue. I liked stories like that, but after a day of reading them, I was tired of them and eager to go to school. The day had been dreary, but the night seemed clear. The air was crisp, like it was going to rain, but that was no surprise. It was never a nice, sunny day at the Sakamaki house, and the only time I ever really went outside was nighttime, before school. I'd been outside in the garden out back but it was always a dark day around here. I don't even remember the last time I saw the sun. It must have been weeks.

I quickly changed into my school uniform and opened my door. A cool breeze hit me from the hallway and I noticed that my room was especially hot, probably because I'd had my door closed the entire day, and last night, and most of the day before. I had my pack with its one strap over my right shoulder as it rested against the left side of my hip. For the past week of school, I was surprised that the brothers allowed me to attend every day. Usually they have me home for at least a few days a week. I never understood why, so being able to go for an entire week, and now Monday night… It was great. I loved going outside and interacting with other people. It was refreshing for me.

"Ready?"

I turned and looked down the hall. It was Ayato. I quickly smiled and nodded, then jogged to catch up to him. But before I could even blink, he disappeared and I stopped. I stood in the middle of the hall and looked at my feet. What was that all about? Why would he even bother saying anything if he just wanted to run away? The candles on the wall were all lit, as usual, but the light in the hall was dim from the small flames. I sighed and made my way to the large foyer. I walked down the large staircase and stopped before the front door. No one else was here. Were they not going to school tonight? That would be odd. I at least wanted Ayato to go so I could talk to him during swimming class.

"Good. You're already dressed. I was afraid I'd have to go tell you to get ready again."

I turned. It was Reiji. I forced a smile and a small laugh.

"Nope, this time I remembered." I kept up my smile but he wasn't reciprocating. He looked at me with slightly narrowed eyes behind his glasses and then gave a "hmph" sound before turning and opening the door. I lifted an eyebrow at his back, but then let it go and followed him outside. The limousine was waiting, as usual, with the same driver as usual. I always wondered if he was just someone the brothers hired, or if he knew what they were. He never spoke a word to any of us, and there was the noise-proof wall between us and him when we sat in the back of the long, shiny black vehicle.

"Is no one else going tonight?" I quickly asked, but Reiji didn't respond. Instead he just opened the back door and stepped inside. For someone who always complained about manners and such, I noticed that he never followed his own rules. Not once has he ever held a door open for me, or other simple things like that. Unless it was actually only a human tradition. Then he probably wouldn't give a damn for as long as he lived. Or it was the fact that I was human and vampires thought of us as lesser beings, or something like that. Just like you would never hold a door open for a dog, unless of course you pitied it, but vampires never felt bad in that sense. Well… most of them, at least. I knew a few who did, I thought with an inward smile.

As I stepped into the back of the limo, I noticed that I was very wrong. All of the Sakamaki brothers sat around the cushioned chairs, their mouths shut and their eyes either out the windows or on their laps. No one even glanced my way when I stepped into the vehicle. I took my usual seat next to Ayato in the far seat against the back wall and waited for him to do something stupid… But it never came. Even when he was in a bad mood, he would still always put his arm over the seat behind me just for show. But I don't know why I was expecting it. He hadn't been doing anything for the past week either. I just thought that maybe it would be different since the weekend had passed. But everything was still the same. The good news was that swimming class was the second class today, and they hadn't held it at all last week because the instructor had been sick. But hopefully he was better today and we would have all three classes this week. That would give me plenty of time to talk to Ayato. He couldn't avoid talking to me during class. We were partners, as well. Everyone had a partner in that class, because if something happened, there was always someone watching you. So his attention would have to be on me the whole time. Not to mention that we've had this class for less two weeks and I wasn't any closer to learning how to swim. Most of the other students came into the class already knowing, and they were just there to splash around and have fun.

The drive seemed longer because of the silence and when the limo finally stopped in front of the school, and Reiji opened the door, they all disappeared within the second. I frowned again and made my way outside at my normal human pace. I shut the door behind me and the limo pulled back out onto the road and drove off. It would be back by the end of the day, but until then, we were all stuck here. Or more accurately, the Sakamaki brothers were stuck here… with me. And I wanted some answers.

My first class was cooking, with Kanato and Ayato, but as I presumed from the past week of class, they both skipped, and I sat in the room, surrounded by strangers, and made whatever recipe I was given for the day. And after forty-five minutes of that, I walked out into the halls and made my way to the large swimming pool room. There was no way Ayato would dare skip this class. I knew this because he wouldn't let me go into the pool not knowing how to swim, without a partner. No one would be able to see if something happened to me because they would be too absorbed in whatever else they were doing. Most of them played games. The instructor wandered off most of the time anyway.

I quickly changed into the uniform—a one piece blue bathing suit, and stepped out into the room. I waited and watched the exit to the boy's locker room, but Ayato never came out. I frowned. Would he really not show up to this class either? I felt tears in the back of my eyes for a split second, but I quickly shook it off.

"Alright everyone," the monotonous voice of our instructor droned from the back corner of the room, "You know the drill. Be safe. No horseplay. I'll be back in a few minutes. Just going to get something to drink." And then he exited through the metal double doors. They closed behind him and all of a sudden, as usual, the room went into a frenzy. We all knew he wouldn't be back until a few minutes before class ended and the bell rang, so everyone was diving and splashing and one girl pulled out a small pool toy and started throwing it around. We were supposed to do laps… nice, orderly laps, and practice our diving from the three boards at the other end. But instead the students felt they got to pretend they were at the beach. And since no one would stop them, they were right.

I quickly slid into the water in the shallow end and lowered my body so my chin was just above the surface. I couldn't believe Ayato really didn't show up. I guess he figured I wouldn't try anything new if he wasn't here…

Then I got an idea. Slowly and carefully, I made my way along the wall towards the deep end. I could show him, I thought. I didn't need him anyway. I would teach myself how to swim without his help. I knew how to stay safe. I wasn't stupid enough to put myself in a position where I could seriously drown. So I stayed with my body pressed firmly against the wall until I was halfway into the deep end. I was nervous because I knew that I couldn't reach the bottom if I stepped off the ledge on the wall of the pool, but I kept a firm grip on the edge and I promised myself I wouldn't let go. Slowly, making sure there was no one around who could hit me or anything like that, I let my feet slip off the ledge and kick behind me. My back end stayed afloat and my upper body was kept above the water from my grip on the edge of the pool. This felt nice. It was almost as if I was swimming. See, I told myself. I didn't need—

"Oi, what do you think you're doing?"

I started and quickly brought my feet back to the ledge under the water. I looked up and there he was, leaning down, his hands on his knees, glaring at me with those beautiful yellow-green eyes.

"I thought you would be smart and stay where it's safe, but here you are putting yourself in danger. Sometimes I think you want to die, Pancake."

"I'm not doing anything dangerous," I said. "Why aren't you or your brothers in class?"

"I feel sick. I don't want to go in the water."

"Oh." I felt bad, but for the most part I thought he was lying. "Do you think you'll feel better by next class—"

"No."

"Oh… Well then I'm sure on Friday—"

"No."

I frowned. "You're doing this on purpose. Why?" He didn't respond. "I wanted to ask you about the Awakening. What happened to me? What happened while I was… asleep?" He still didn't say anything. "Ayato… Please. No one will talk to me. You… Your brothers… Why are you all acting this way?"

He looked away from me. "Just get out of the deep end before you do something stupid and I have to come in there and get you."

Now that was an idea I hadn't thought of. If he wasn't going to talk to me… Well, if he wanted to be a nuisance, then I could do the same. I pushed off of the edge and let myself go for about two feet before I felt my body slowly sinking.

" _Oi_!" I heard him shout before my head was under. I couldn't hear anything, and I could feel my mind trying to force my body to start panicking, but I knew I'd be fine. It was a stupid thing to do, sure to get him furious at me. Maybe I was just that desperate for some attention from at least one of the brothers. And if I had to have my pick, Ayato was the one I'd want it from.

As expected, it didn't take long before I felt a hand grab my arm so tight I knew it would leave bruises. Yea, he was furious all right. I couldn't help but smile to myself. I opened my eyes and ignored the burn from the chlorine, but I wanted to panic for a whole other set of reasons when it wasn't Ayato I saw pulling me above the water. It was a boy I'd never seen before. He was in just his swimming trunks and his upper body was quite sculpted. He wasn't looking at me though. He probably thought I was unconscious because I went under without moving. I looked above the water and saw a lot of blurred faces, but no one had that soft head of light purple hair. Ayato was gone.

The boy with the chiseled upper body dragged me out of the pool with the help of a few others, all asking desperately if I was alright. I couldn't even nod. I just sat there and let myself cry.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

I hid in the locker room. After everyone had gone and the bell rang for next period, I finally opened the bathroom stall door and peered around. No one was there. I walked over to the sinks and washed my hands, even though they weren't dirty. I looked at myself, still in my bathing suit with drenched, ugly, matted-down hair. My eyes were red and puffy from crying but I was finished now. I wasn't going to cry anymore. It just wasn't worth it. I knew the brothers all cared, but they only showed it when they felt like it.

Before I could get a grip, I leaned my back up against the wall and slid down, putting my face in my hands and starting to cry all over again. Why were they doing this to me? Was it punishment? Was it something I did? I didn't understand. What happened when I died? What happened to Cordelia? To their uncle? What happened to them? To me? I just wanted to know and for some reason it was making the Sakamaki brothers like this. It had to be—

"What was that all about?" a male voice asked and I lifted my head so quickly it hit the wall behind me and I yelped. The voice laughed and I looked up.

"Oh. You're…"

"The guy who pulled you out of the water."

"This is the girls' locker room."

"Yea, but I saw you go in and never come out. There's only one door, so I figured you still had to be in here." He frowned. "Why are you crying? You _wanted_ to die out there?"

I was startled by his direct question, but I quickly shook my head.

"Then what?"

"I just… wanted to get someone's attention…" I knew I probably sounded like a stupid little girl just then, but it was truth… and it was partially the reason I was crying—because I'd was being a stupid little girl. Trying to drown to get Ayato's attention… what kind of an idiot was I just then?

"Hmm… that must be pretty important to you if you were going to die over it." The young man slid down the wall to sit next to me.

"I knew I wasn't going to die."

"What if I hadn't seen you? Everyone else was a little preoccupied."

I didn't want to go into details with this random stranger, but I couldn't help it. I hadn't spoken with someone in quite a while, and this was nice, to be honest.

"Did you hear someone shout before I went under?"

"I… don't think so. Why?"

"Because that was him. He noticed me… But I thought…"

"Oh, I get it. I wasn't supposed to save you, huh?" The boy laughed. "The _other guy_ was."

I looked at him in confusion.

"Well if he wasn't the one who saved you, then maybe that should tell you something. Yea?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't be dense," he said with a playful smile. "Just break up with the guy."

"Oh."

"Oh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

The young man sighed and scratched the back of his head. "You don't want to break up with him?"

"It's not like that?"

"Then explain."

I looked up at the large clock and saw that it was only a few minutes into the current class period. If I was skipping, then I had a lot of time, and it didn't look like the pool was open this period, so no one would be in the locker rooms, either. I had time.

"It's not like that… It's… we're not like that."

"You're not dating the guy?" I shook my head in reply. "Then you're just trying to get his attention? You want him to notice you?" I nodded that time. "Well, listen," he began with a light laugh, "If you want this guy's attention and he doesn't even give it to you when you're about to drown, then he's not worth it. You shouldn't try so hard."

"It's not like that either."

The man frowned. "What?"

"He would've saved me if you didn't."

"What do you want then, an apology?"

"No. I'm grateful you saved me… I didn't want to die when I did it. But it seems like he doesn't want to care anymore… I don't know…"

"You talk like you've dated him in the past. Have you?"

"No," I couldn't help but laugh. Vampires… dating? It was a funny thought. Dating was a human tradition, and they probably thought of themselves as too good for that sort of thing anyway. If they wanted someone, they just took them and did what they wanted to them. I knew this for a fact, from experience and the stories they told me.

"Then what? You want to date him but he's not for it?"

"No."

"You're not making any sense."

"It's complicated."

"It doesn't have to be."

I looked up at him and our eyes met. His were a light hazel—very calming, patient… it was relaxing to meet eyes with him.

"I don't see how that can be true."

"Just forget about him."

I paused. I'd never actually thought about that option. Was he saying I could leave the Sakamaki house? I'd thought about it, but I always knew I'd have nowhere to go and nothing to do. But could I start preparing to leave? Is that what he was saying I could do? Prepare to have the brothers out of my life?

"I can tell you're thinking about it now," the boy said. "If there are other people in your life… other people to talk to… to go to when you need a break from the rest of the world…"

"What are you saying?" I could tell there was another meaning behind his words.

"Why don't you forget about him and come with me for a bit?"

I blinked twice before readjusting. Did I hear him correctly? His eyes seemed trustworthy enough. His face wasn't sneaky or scary, like a vampire's. And he'd saved me when Ayato ignored me. Maybe this was some kind a sign for me. Maybe this boy was right.

"I'm Haru," he said, standing up. He held out his hand to help me up. "It's nice to meet you…?"

"Yui Komori," I said softly, taking his hand. He gently hauled me to my feet.

"Pretty name," he said with a smile. "Now I hope you don't mind, but I'm starting to feel a little bit uncomfortable in the ladies' room."

I couldn't help but smile. This boy… Haru. He seemed genuine. He led the way out to the halls and I followed behind him, but I stopped in my tracks when I saw who was leaning against the wall right outside the door.

"Ayato… kun…"

Haru turned as my eyes hit the ground and I could feel the tears coming back.

"Hey," he said softly, taking my hand. I could've sworn I saw Ayato twitch a little at that, but I looked away, still down at the ground, away from him. "Come on, Yui. It's fine. Let's go to class." I could feel some tension in the air, but Ayato didn't make any moves to stop us as I walked away with this kind young man. But as we quickly as we started walking away, Haru stopped again.

"Who is _this_?"

I looked up. It was Subaru, standing in our way.

"What's it to you?" Haru asked with a shrug. His voice wasn't threatening, but it still held the same note as "get out of the way". I wasn't sure how the white-haired brother would take that.

"Tch."

Subaru glanced at me, and then down to my hand in Haru's. He looked back up at me and narrowed his eyes. I froze. Why was he mad at me? I didn't do anything wrong. But just when I thought he might do something violent, as per his usual reaction to things, he just stepped out of our way and scowled. I wanted to say something to him, but I couldn't think of anything as Haru continuing leading me down the hall. But in a few crowds and around a couple corners, I could see each of the vampire brothers watching me, their eyes glowing dangerously.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It felt strange, to have a friend. Someone normal. Someone who didn't want to drink my blood or use me in some crazy reincarnation ritual. Someone who talked to me and listened to me and actually cared about what I said and how I felt… Someone human. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had normal interaction like this with another human. It was revitalizing. I could see myself getting excited to go to night school every weekday. I could see myself getting up in the morning and not being able to hide my excitement for the end of the day, when the sun went down and I could talk to him again. I felt like I could truly smile for the first time in a long time.

It was nearing the end of the school day, and although I felt bad for skipping the majority of my classes, it was really fun. It was pitch black outside, but I could picture the sun shining when I didn't look out the windows. Haru told me stories about his life—his parents, he was an only child, he used to have a dog but it ran away, he's dated two girls, both who were at his previous school, he's a new student and that's why I didn't recognize him, and he loves to paint. It felt great to know someone on this level, but I knew I was holding back because of my past. I didn't want to tell him about my father, and how he'd gone missing over a month ago, and he hasn't shown up since. I couldn't tell him that I was told to move into a house full of vampire brothers because I was supposed to be a vessel for a dead vampire who was the evil mother of three of the brothers that I live with. And I couldn't tell Haru that I died and somehow came back to life after the process went through because I didn't even know how that worked. I wanted to tell him about my father, and all the wonderful memories I had of him from when I was a child, but then I could think about was how he sold me through the church to be a vessel for the Awakening. I still didn't understand if he did it for a good reason or just because he wanted money, and I would never get the chance to ask him because I've made peace with the fact that he'll probably never come back.

Even still, it was nice to just talk to someone and hear them talk about themselves.

"Well, Yui, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Haru said with a smile and a wave. We stood outside the main entrance to the school. It looked beautiful bathed in moonlight. "Even though we skipped our classes today, we actually have three of them together anyway, so we should probably just go to class from now on." He let out a sheepish laugh and I smiled at him and nodded.

"Tch."

I jumped when Subaru appeared around the corner and walked past Haru and me to the limo. I thought everyone was inside already…

"I think I have to go," I said apologetically.

"Yea, me too. Mom's waiting out in the back parking lot I think. Why don't you give me your number and I'll text you later?"

I nodded, but then quickly remembered that Ayato broke my cellphone the day I moved into the Sakamaki mansion.

"Wait, it's actually broken," I said with a sorry frown. "I'll let you know if I ever replace it, but it's been a while."

"Really? How do you live without a phone?" he asked with a chuckle. I just shrugged and he got the message. "Okay, okay. Go on home. I'll see ya tomorrow, Yui. Have a good rest of the night."

"You too," I replied with a smile, and I turned and ran to the limo. I entered and saw them all, sitting there. But this time, they were all watching me. Their eyes weren't avoiding me or glancing out the window. They all looked at me. Glaring, almost. Reiji looked disapproving. Kanato, Laito and Subaru all narrowed their eyes. Shuu had one eye open, looking at me, expressionless, but he closed it when I looked back. Ayato saw me once and then turned away, watching the window. His face was unreadable.

I closed the door behind me and tried to see if I could put some distance between me and Ayato on the small cushion. But just when I thought I was in a good place, I felt his arm go around me and rest along my shoulders and the back of my seat. I turned to him in surprise but he was still looking out the window. I looked at everyone else and they were also avoiding eye contact again.

Did it really bother them so much that I made a friend? I didn't get it. Once again, I was very confused. I looked again at Ayato when the car started moving and he had his head tilted slightly back and his eyes were closed. I knew it was out of place, but I felt like I had done something very wrong, as if spending time with Haru was offensive to them. But that was absurd. He was only a human, like me. They never cared about humans before. So what was it? There were so many things I wanted answers to. Why wouldn't they just talk to me?

I glanced out the window, looking back towards the front entrance to the school, and saw Haru standing there, his mouth open in shock as he watched the limo pull out onto the road.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You live with them?!"

The pool was closed tonight so we had a regular health class-style period, learning about CPR and spinals and the different swimming strokes. It was boring and I couldn't wait to get in the water again tomorrow. Haru already said he'd be my partner if Ayato didn't show up again.

"Like, you live with those guys? Yui, no wonder you feel the way you do. You're kinda stuck." He laughed but then held back, seeing as it was a touchy subject for me. "Why don't you live with your family? I heard from a few people that those guys are filthy stinkin' rich, though. They must have a huge home, right? Must be nice there actually, now that I think about it."

I shrugged.

We sat in the hallway between classes. The next class was the last period of the night and then it was time to go home. I knew this would probably be my last time to see him tonight, so I wanted to talk.

"How long have you been there?"

"Almost two months now I guess."

"That's not that long."

"Seems like it."

"I bet."

An awkward silence passed between us and Haru frowned. "You sure you're okay? You come in here every day looking like you're about to cry again." I glared at him a bit and he pretended to be scared. We both laughed. This was nice. This was really nice. "So what about your family? Why aren't you with them instead?"

I supposed I could tell him part of the truth, as long as I didn't give away the bad stuff. "My mother died when I was young, so it was always just me and my father. A little more than two months ago my father went missing, and he left me a note. It told me to come here. He said that these people would take me in and take care of me."

"Did the note say when he'd be back?"

I froze. This is what I didn't want to talk about. I just shook my head and looked away.

"Oh, hey, I'm sorry. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I didn't mean to pry."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked, looking back at him. He seemed stumped by my question at first, but then he bounced right back.

"Well, you kinda stood out cuz you're the first girl I've ever seen try to drown herself. And well… you were upset and I'm new here… I figured we could both use someone to talk to. And…" he trailed off. "Well, Yui, to be honest with you… I really like you."

I felt a blush creep its way under the skin on my cheeks. I knew exactly what he meant from the way a faint blush spread on his face as well.

"Haru…"

"I know, I ruined the moment. Sorry again—"

"No, what I mean to say is… Haru… I like you, t—"

" _Oi_! Pancake!"

I jumped at the familiar voice, almost standing up. Ayato came around the corner and he looked angry. I gulped. What was his problem?

"We're leaving early tonight. Let's go. The limo's out front already. Everyone's waiting."

I quickly stood up and gathered my things, but when I looked at Haru's expression, I froze again. I could tell what he wanted to say. He would ask me why I'm listening to Ayato. He would tell me to do my own thing and not be so miserable with them anymore. So I slowly set my things back down on the ground.

"Ayato-kun…" I turned and faced him. "If you and the others need to go home early, then don't let me be a burden to you. I'll call a cab after last period is over. You can go home without me."

His face changed to one of shock, but it was quickly replaced with his angry expression again.

"We need to talk to you," he said simply, his tone impatient. Oh, now they wanted to talk? Why? Obviously they were angry that I made a friend, and that wasn't fair.

"Then you can talk to me tomorrow—"

" _Yui_! Listen to me!"

I jumped when he used my name. He never used my name. His voice wasn't just angry or irritated anymore, either. There was a sense of desperation in it. But what could that be from?

"Ayato… kun…"

"Listen," Haru suddenly said, standing up and coming between me and Ayato. I couldn't help but watch him in his brave act. If only he knew what Ayato was, he wouldn't be so brave. "She said she wants to stay until the end of the day. I'll make sure she gets home safe. I'm sure my mom won't mind taking you home, Yui." He turned to me and I could only stare back at him.

"Back off," Ayato hissed, and for a second I thought he was about to show his fangs. Thankfully he didn't.

"She doesn't want to go with you."

"Then that's just too bad."

"Too bad for you, maybe."

I heard a faint yet deep growl emanate from Ayato and I suddenly got nervous for Haru. I grabbed my things again and started walking past him towards the purple-haired vampire. But before I took my second step past Haru, a hand grabbed me and spun me around, and suddenly a mouth was on mine. My eyes grew wider than they've ever gone when I was bitten by the Sakamakis. And I soon realized that this wasn't something that I didn't want.

But before another thought could process in my head, I was torn from Haru. When I looked around, he was in front of me, staring, wide-eyed. So were the six vampire brothers. They faced me, and bore their fangs. I suddenly felt very afraid, and from the look on Haru's face, he did as well. The sight of people just appearing out of thin air was most likely new to him.

Ayato was the first to approach me. He grabbed my arm and tugged me towards him violently. He pulled me so hard I let out a small scream. Carefully angling us so that Haru wouldn't see his fangs, he dug them into the skin on my lower neck and drank. I winced and yelped, but he made no movement as if he would stop because of my pain.

"Ayato-kun… please… it hurts…"

I felt myself getting fainter and the ceiling started to spin. When he finally stopped, he didn't even hold me upright and I collapsed onto the floor.

"What did you do to her?!" I heard Haru shout, at the same time the bell rang, shrieking through the halls. People started coming out of the classrooms and before long the halls would be full.

I didn't know what was going on, but I saw Reiji lean forward and whisper something to Haru that made his face go pale. Then I was cradled against Ayato's chest and the cold air of the night was hitting my sensitive skin. Then I was in the limousine. Then before I knew it, I was in my bed, and I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer as a dark sleep consumed me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"…just tell her…"

"…no point keeping it secret anymore…"

"…stupid idea to begin with…"

"…have to think… making rash decisions. I didn't… what else to do…"

My head hurt something fierce, but I managed to sit up anyway, and the voices I thought I heard suddenly went silent. I looked around my room and jumped when everyone was there—Shuu, Reiji, Ayato, Laito, Kanato and Subaru.

"W… What's going on?" I suddenly recalled the events before I passed out. My eyes turned to Ayato in as much of a rage as I could make in my drowsiness. "What did you do to him? What did you do to Haru?"

"Biiiiiitch-chan," Laito sung, "You can't be involving yourself with humans now. It's very disrespectful, especially towards us."

I couldn't even acknowledge what Laito was saying. I glared at Ayato, awaiting an answer.

"He's right," he said, shrugging.

"Yui," Reiji said, and I turned to him. "I told him he needed to stay away from you or he was going to have us to deal with. In other words of course, but I was polite about it."

"Teddy says, "I doubt that". He wanted Yui to know." Kanato gave me a creepy grin and I shivered. My reaction made him frown.

"Yui, we need to talk. You want answers. We'll give them to you. Is that acceptable?"

I wanted to yell at them. I wanted to yell at them more than anything in the world for scaring off what could have been a good friend… or maybe even something more than that. How was I supposed to go on with my life with these crazy vampires breathing down my neck and expecting blood in return for something I didn't even want from them? But the temptation of answers kept my mouth shut and I nodded at Reiji.

"How do put this…?" he began.

"Just say it," I replied. "If it's important then just say whatever it is."

"Very well, then. You're a vampire."

My stomach dropped and I accidentally let out a coughing laugh. No one else thought it was funny besides me. I glanced at all their faces.

"You're not kidding…"

"As you're aware, Cordelia was able to be revived through you because her heart was saved and it manifested itself inside your body. This was the process we called the Awakening. Your body got used to many of the differences between humans and vampires so that Cordelia could come back with your body. As I'm sure you remember, this was a very painful process for you, wasn't it?" I didn't respond. His question was rhetorical. "Anyway, once you stabbed yourself, you killed Cordelia. This was only possible because you used Subaru's knife and you stabbed yourself in the heart—Cordelia's heart. As long as her heart and that dress were still bound to one another, Cordelia would remain alive, and most likely be reborn inside of you eventually anyway. Laito burned the dress at almost the same time that you stabbed the heart with that very special knife. Cordelia is gone. We know that for a fact. She was gone the moment you died. And yet I prepared a potion for you. It was Kanato's idea. I used Cordelia's essence to bring you back. It was brought to my attention that the Awakening and Cordelia's revival was only relevant to one another because our uncle planned it that way, but originally, thousands of year ago, the Awakening was simply a process used to turn a human female into a vampire. It was never actually done, though. All of the humans died during the process. But because you once had Cordelia's heart inside of you, and your body had accepted the transformations, which was a miracle by itself, Kanato asked if it was possible to use another part of Cordelia to bring you back. I made an elixir out of her essence and a few other ingredients to both keep you from feeling any attachment to Cordelia and suppressing those physical ties altogether. She is dead, after all. And after Ayato gave you the elixir, because it had to be given by mouth from another vampire, you opened your eyes. And from that moment…"

I didn't know what to say. It made sense, and I believed him, but there were still so many questions that didn't answer themselves.

"So why not just tell me? Why keep it a secret and avoid me like you did?"

Reiji looked away and I turned when Ayato walked over and sat on the edge of my bed.

"Do you know how you're a vampire? You have no fangs. You have no strength, no speed. You don't thirst for blood. Everything about you screams "human" to us… besides the smell of course. And even that's getting confusing."

"I don't understand what you're saying."

Reiji looked up. "Children, Yui."

"What?" I asked, confused, but then it hit me—the meaning of his words. "So… you're saying…"

"You can now become impregnated by a male vampire and give birth to full-blooded, noble children. That was the point of the Awakening when the ritual was created thousands of years ago. There are no records that it was ever successful… until now."

"How is that possible?"

"Cordelia. Her heart kept you alive as if you were an immortal throughout the process. Any human without that kind of aid would have died within the first week from the pain alone. The reason it's never been completed before is because what Cordelia and Heinz did is illegal in our world. You cannot bring back an immortal. It can be done, but the ways that you must go about it are cruel, even for us. Recently I learned that for Cordelia to be fully reincarnated, all of her children must have been murdered after the vessel was fully taken over. She would have made you or our uncle kill Laito, Kanato and Ayato. Exchanging the life of one of us for three is… improper."

"So the Awakening… Vampires wanted to turn humans into vampires so that they could have children?"

"I'm not sure if you noticed because you've seen all of our mothers through visions because of your connection to Cordelia, but female vampires… it's very rare to see them. Most vampire children are male. This is also why you were referred to as the Prospective Bride. All humans that have undergone the Awakening were female. The process was created when the last of our kind was on the brink of extinction. They used terrible means to have children, and yet they managed it. None of the Brides survived, though. In a sense, and at this point, you could say that we're _all_ descendants from cruel means of reproduction. I don't doubt a few of the methods that were used involved cutting children out of half-Awakened humans, or simply rape just to have them. Humans would never agree to undergo these processes, so it was always forced on them."

"Yui…" Ayato said, leaning forward. I found myself holding my breath as he got closer, and I slowly exhaled.

"Another thing about female vampires," Reiji said, and Ayato and I looked back at him. "Since they are so few and far between, many covens are actually run by them. Unfortunately, you were not born a vampire, and without having such… physical enhancements, so to say, you could never properly run a coven."

"I don't understand. Why would I want to run a coven?"

"Yui…" Ayato said again, and I looked at him.

"I don't understand." I narrowed my eyes in thought, but I still couldn't see what Reiji was saying. And Ayato kept getting closer to me and it was making my head a little fuzzy.

"There are very few females. We still desire to keep our people alive. Females run covens full of males. In a sense, they are all her mates. She will often have children with the majority of them, and she will continue to reproduce until she has had enough to satisfy their bloodlines."

Aside from how this was relevant to my current situation, I still had another question.

"But you're immortal, right? Why do you need to have children if vampires live forever? You'll never go extinct if you never die."

"Our people are constantly fighting. And there are quite a few weapons like Subaru's knife. There are many ways to kill an immortal, despite how humans tend to define the word."

"Am I immortal?"

"That's doubtful. Your roots are still human, only your blood is vampire. It may prolong your life for a while, but if you do not die of ailments or murder, you will eventually die of old age."

I didn't want to bring this up, but I felt like I had to.

"So… are you all… a coven, then?"

"Yui…"

I jumped when Ayato said my name for the third time. It was looking straight at me, but I tried to keep my eyes on Reiji, awaiting an answer. He knew what my real question was. What did they expect of me now that I could…

"I understand your thoughts on this will always be very human, because that's how you were taught and raised by human parents. But another thing… you can no longer have children with human males."

I blinked a few times. I'd never really thought about having children before, but suddenly the fact that I couldn't have them made me sad. Well… I _could_ have them, but…

"And vampires do find it important to have children…"

I paused. Reiji spoke about rape before like it was taboo for even vampires, which was a good thing. I didn't believe any of them would actually do something like that anyway.

"We've all… _grown attached_ to you," Reiji said, pushing his glasses up his nose with two fingers. "There are things I would like to talk to you about in private, if you don't mind."

"No, I don't mind," I replied. Before the last word was out of my mouth, the rest of them disappeared. Reiji inhaled slowly and then exhaled quietly. It was only the two of us in my room now.

"None of them will mind me saying any of this, because you are one of our kind now, even though you don't seem like it. I would like to warn you that you do give off a scent now…" He paused for a moment. "Do you understand?"

I shook my head. "What kind of a scent?"

"A mating scent, Yui. It's the only way for one of us to be able to tell that you're a vampire. Unfortunately, this will make you a target for other vampires—strays may approach you with the intent to have children. Do you understand?"

I gulped. Oh… "Yes."

"This may sound… strange to you, but we are yours." He gave a slight bow and my lips parted slightly in shock. "We will protect you from other males because this is our duty. This does not require you to have relations with any of us."

I could feel my face getting hotter and hotter. I was just a teenage girl, still in high school, and already I was being thrown into some kind of weird arrangement with six brothers. But the thought of it was making my blood get hotter as well, and I doubted Reiji couldn't feel it. Same with the others.

"So… what did you want to tell me… in private?"

"Before, when you were still human, undergoing the transitions, I had a talk with Ayato and a talk with Subaru. As I'm sure you're aware, they are both very attached to you. So is Shuu. The others care for you as well."

I just nodded when he paused. Yes, I knew that.

"Because of my blood," I said, but Reiji shook his head and I watched him, confused.

"Your blood during the Awakening became more and more appealing because of the scent you gave off. The process makes it so that it's difficult for vampires not to kill you. This is another reason why no other Awakenings have been successful. If a Bride managed to survive through the pain, the vampires conducting the process would become so intoxicated by the sweet scent of blood that they would just wake up one morning after sucking her blood to her death. This didn't happen, as I'm sure you're aware, because of Ayato. Although I don't believe you're aware of what he went through to keep you safe. He fought each and every one of us."

"A… Ayato-kun did that?"

"This is what I want you to understand. For Subaru and for Ayato especially, your blood is not what attracts them to you. I spoke with Subaru when he mentioned to me that you remind him of his mother, and how he wanted to protect her… and he failed. He was only a child, after all. There wasn't much he could do against his father… our father. But he came to me, confused, asking why he felt the need to protect you. I brushed it off, because I didn't understand it at that point either. You were human. We are vampires. There is no relationship other than predator and prey. But I began to think about it when Ayato asked me if there was any history of vampires taking humans as their mates. At first I told him it was pointless because you can't reproduce, and that's the point of a mate. You may think that we're heartless… but we've all experienced emotions, same as you. Heartbreak, anger, attachment, happiness, despair and love. Everything. We've felt it, but we've been alive for longer than you may believe. We are young for the way that we look, but we're not…" He trailed off. "That's a conversation for another time, I suppose… These feelings get old to us over time, is my point. Ayato expressed to me that he was worried he may have feelings of love for you."

I gulped at that statement, and saved it in the back of my mind for later questions I would have to find the answers to.

"At first I said that it was because Cordelia, his mother, was a part of you, and even though he played his part in her death, she was still his mother, and feeling her inside of you could have brought up the past. But he was persistent and claimed that wasn't it, and he forced me to sit down and talk to him about having a relationship with a human. I told him very simply, because I knew you would not appreciate having a relationship like a vampire would expect, and how humans base relationships on love and lust. I told him that if he wanted to proceed in that fashion, with you, he was going to have to have a relationship as if he was a human, otherwise you would not want it. As you can imagine, he didn't take it so well and he stormed off. He never spoke of it again and further on he told me he didn't know why he brought it up to begin with."

My thoughts moved from one topic to another very quickly. I had so many questions now. I didn't know which ones to ask first.

"Why can you so easily have a conversation like this, while the others are so…"

"From when I was a child, I studied fact. I still do. That's all."

"So why are you telling me these things? So I will… be the female in your coven?"

"I just want you to understand that while we do things that seem ruthless or immoral in your eyes… well, we all have our reasons. I'd be happy to sit down and talk to you about anything. Any questions you may have in the future… you can bring them to me and I'll answer them as truthfully I can."

It sounded like he was finished. He took a step towards the door. I knew that I could ask him my questions when I sorted them all out in my head, on my own time.

"Thank you, Reiji."

"I also ask that you consider it. I don't know how else to tell you… we _do_ care. It's just different for us."

"Could you explain that before you go?"

He turned, but he didn't seem too happy about it. I gulped, but he started to answer me.

"It's in your nature to want a human-like relationship. I feel bad for my brothers because of this."

"What does that mean? What's the difference between what you're calling a human relationship and a vampire relationship? They can't be much different, right?"

"Humans need attachment. In a way, they need to _feel_ loved, and they based relations off of that singular feeling. We don't, Yui. Female vampires are rare and yet many of my kind will kill them just to say that they did it. There is no love because there are so few females. There is desire and, simply put, a need to be better than someone else because you have something that others do not. Vampires are territorial. Females are often viewed as pets, and in other circumstances, they are viewed as tyrants. Many know their rare status and take advantage of it. Others try to hide because they know what could be done to them if they are found. It's very different. Because of this, we don't give much attention to having the kind of relationship humans do. We can't pick and choose who we want, or jump from one to the next. If we find one, we quickly take advantage of a rare opportunity, and that's all."

"Oh." I couldn't think of anything else to say in response to that.

"You should be glad your father asked that you come here. You may think of me and my brothers as ruthlessly cruel and selfish at times, but you have never _known_ other vampires. The majority of them are like Cordelia and my uncle. You are fortunate, I believe. To have vampires like Ayato and Subaru around you now. They care. They feel. And much more than any other vampires I've known. They like to think they're cruel because to us it shows strength, but deep down… no." Reiji closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. "They're not… Not really… And that doesn't necessarily mean that they're weak, either."

And then he opened the door to exit.

"One last thing, Yui… I mentioned strays… I don't doubt that they can smell you from miles away, so just be careful. You have suddenly become a rare prize in our world… A rare prize that has never been seen before in the history of vampire-kind, of which you are now a part of. Despite what you may think, you should take comfort in the fact that you have us… because others may seek to steal you away. And many will undoubtedly seek to destroy you."

I didn't get much sleep, to say the least. I had a lot on my mind, and it didn't seem like anyone was talking to me, even though the secret was out already. Maybe they were just getting tired of me. I didn't mind too much anyway. I needed time alone right now. The two things I couldn't stop thinking about were Haru and my father. Haru, for obvious reasons—I couldn't be with humans anymore… at least not in the sense of a relationship… I mean, I could try, but it was pointless… I was vampire. It was strange because I still felt human, but I trusted Reiji to tell me the truth. And if vampire blood ran through my veins… how was I supposed to be with someone while I was like that? And poor Haru… I really did like him. I was going to tell him, too, before Ayato interrupted us. And he'd kissed me… I wondered what that would bring up in the future. We went to the same school, so it wasn't like I would never see him again. In fact, I would see him tonight, in the pool during second period. I was a bit worried. Reiji must have threatened him from the way his face went pale the last time I saw him. Maybe he would just avoid me from now on. It seemed better that way when I thought about it.

My other thoughts were on my father, and that was currently what filled my brain. This whole time I thought my father had sent me to a house of vampires… sold me for the Awakening because he needed money… But maybe it was something else. I knew that during the beginning of the process, my blood was very attracting to vampires. And it had been the Sagamaki brothers who took the role of draining me when they pleased. But maybe my father knew. Maybe he knew that the Awakening was beginning, and vampires would soon be after the smell of my blood. Maybe he'd known that Ayato and the others would be cruel, but in s sense they protected me from the rest of the vampire world. In their mansion, no other vampires were allowed inside… And they always told me that I would die if I tried to leave. Maybe that was why. I would have to ask Reiji, so I made myself a mental note and hoped I would remember it later.

Another question I had was whether or not my father knew I would be the first Bride… the first human to survive the Awakening process. Because if he'd known that as well, then he might have known about what Reiji explained to me last night—about the coven and me being surrounded by male vampires. And if he'd known that, then did he know that Ayato and Subaru and Shuu and the others would treat me kindly, in a sense, compared to anywhere else? And then again, how did I really know that. I knew that the brothers, especially Subaru, Ayato and Shuu, would protect me from any harm or any threats that came my way. If my father had known all that, then this was for my benefit. And maybe he would come back… Maybe now that the process was complete and I was a vampire alongside the Sagamaki family… Maybe he would come to see me. Another thought I'd had before was if he would show up and take me home with him. I knew I wouldn't be happy leaving behind these vampires and going off on my own. And I knew it wasn't because I wouldn't feel safe. I knew… that my heart would hurt for them if I had to leave. I even pictured myself fighting against my father to stay with them… but I didn't know what I would actually do if something like that happened in the future.

One of the biggest things I had to think about, but the one thing I really didn't want to… was what Reiji had referred to as taking mates. He'd basically said that I could have all of them and because I wasn't human—saying that still bothered me—the idea of cheating on someone didn't apply because vampires didn't think of having more than one mate as a bad thing, especially for a female. It sounded like many vampires would be offended if only had one boyfriend at a time… I laughed to myself. I was using words like "mate" and "boyfriend" as if that made it make more sense to me. But it didn't. I just didn't know what else to call it. Saying it was a relationship didn't sound right. Saying I had a boyfriend wouldn't be right either. I guess mate was the easiest way to describe it. But that sounded so primal. I supposed that's why it worked, though. Vampires were more instinctual than humans anyway. They didn't have rules like we did.

I paused.

We…

I couldn't truly believe that I was a vampire. In a sense, I wasn't. I didn't have strength or speed, and I didn't have the bloodlust. I didn't even have fangs. All I had was blood in my veins from Cordelia and whatever was in that concoction that Reiji said he had Ayato administer while I was dead. I hadn't caught it when he said it, but I remembered Reiji saying that it had to be taken mouth to mouth by a vampire… And Ayato was the one who gave it to me. I also remembered him almost kissing me when Cordelia and I were fighting for control over my body. When I was in the lake, and he pulled me out… when we were both on land again. He'd said some strange things… Things that I would have never expected him to say. I guess I didn't remember it until now because right after he said that, I was forced to run from my life from his brothers. I assumed that was also when Ayato fought them to keep me safe. Otherwise, they would have followed me through the woods and back to the mansion and drank me dry.

I remembered what he said now as if he was saying it to me in person. I could hear his voice in my head—" _As long as I have your blood, I'll never want… Your blood is too sweet to give up. And you belong to me. Your blood, your heart, your body, your soul, your everything_." And his final words—" _Devote your blood and your life to me_ …"

It was a confession of sorts, I knew. It was also Ayato, so I knew he was controlling. Devoting my blood to him wasn't anything more than allowing him to do what he pleased with me at any time. It was his way of asking me to promise to never say no when he wanted my blood. But my life… devoting my life to him… I wasn't sure if he'd just said that because it had a nice ring to it, or if he meant it in the human sense. Each of those words held so much meaning for me now, because I could feel that I also cared for him. He'd started by saying that as long as he had my blood, he wouldn't want any other, but he cut himself off and replaced that statement with telling me that my blood was too important to him. It was either him trying to say human things to get me to agree to let him have his way with me… or it was something like… a vampire acting almost human. And I found the temptation of having Ayato in a human sense very appealing.

I shook my head. I had to remember that he was still a vampire and every one of his words was just a ploy… a setup to be able to drink from me and make it seem okay when it wasn't. Well… it wasn't okay based off of human morals and ideals. For vampires… I paused again. I was a vampire now. What did that make—

"Oi, Pancake."

I yelped and whipped around, clearly not expecting anyone to show up in my room today, much less the man I was thinking about in such a fashion.

"Ayato-kun…" He was already in uniform, and night classes didn't begin for at least another few hours. "Did you need something?"

A coy smirk spread on his lips, but then it quickly faded. "I don't want you hanging around that child anymore."

"Child? Oh, you mean Haru…" I lowered my eyes to the floor. "He's just—"

"He touched what's mine. I should kill him, but Reiji said I'm not allowed."

I looked back up at him, my eyes wide. "Why would you even say such a thing?"

In the next moment, Ayato was standing a couple inches from my face, his eyes glaring into mine. That bright yellow-green color was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. "He… touched you…" He trailed off, then took a step back. "He touched what belongs to Yours Truly."

"I don't belong to anyone," I said. I tried to sound forceful, but it came out soft instead.

Ayato narrowed his eyes. "You understand what Reiji told you?"

For a second I thought he was referring to what Reiji had told me in private, about Ayato talking to him about having a human for a mate, and how that would work for him if he wanted it. I opened my mouth to respond to that, but then shut it. He was talking about me being a vampire.

"What about it?"

"You are mine."

"I just said that I'm not anyone's. I'm no one's property. I'm not some belonging—"

Ayato stepped forward again and my mouth involuntarily shut, as well as my mind. Trying to for a sentence out of words would be embarrassing at this point.

"He… what he did…"

"He kissed me, Ayato," I quickly said, and I was surprised at my own sudden confidence burst.

"That's… very… human." He spat the word.

"Well, I…" I paused. "I used to be human."

"Is that what you want?"

"What?" I didn't understand what he was asking.

"Did you… want that?"

"I never wanted to be vampire. I never even knew—"

I was shoved backwards until my back hit the wall and hi slammed his open palm into the wall to the left of my head, baring his fangs at me with a snarl.

"A-Ayato-kun—what are you…"

"Do you want that?!" he angrily shouted at me.

I could feel tears welling up in the back of my eyes. I didn't understand. Did he want me to say that I didn't want to be a vampire, because I didn't feel any different, and so it didn't matter as much to me. I wasn't sure. I hadn't even thought about whether or not being a vampire was something that I wanted or not. But why was he getting so mad over it?

I guess it was taking me too long to answer him because he grabbed my chin with his right hand and forced my head up as his fangs neared the side of my throat. And before I could say a word, I felt two sharp fangs pierce my flesh, right beside the marks he'd given me last night at the school.

I couldn't fight him. His strength was too great. I was still human, as far as my physical body was concerned. I wondered how partially immortal I truly was. If I stepped off a high ledge and fell fifty feet, would I be able to walk away, even if my body was ripped apart. If Ayato drained me of my blood, would I somehow be able to come back from the dead a second time? I couldn't think straight as my vision blurred.

"Please… Ayato-kun… stop… stop it…"

My weight dropped all at once and I felt him hold me up with his left hand. His fingers were digging into my arm, but I barely noticed it. My eyes were slowly shutting and I could feel my conscience slipping away.

" _Ayato_!"

Suddenly, what I felt as Ayato's warmth was pulled away from me, and replaced with a chill as I fell, collapsing onto the ground.

"Get off me, baka!"

"You can't do this to her anymore!"

"I can do what I want! She's mine!"

" _Get out_!"

And when I heard the faint sound of a door closing, someone was lifting me up and I was placed on my bed.

"S… Su..baru… kun?"

"Just be quiet."

And then two more sharp fangs pierced my skin below my collarbone. I didn't have the strength to make any noise, and as soon as he started drinking from me, all I could think was that I was a little happy that things were going back to normal. I felt sick, and the darkness overwhelmed me. I welcomed it with open arms.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

There was sunshine. That was the most obvious thing to me. It was finally a nice day at the Sagamaki mansion. I hadn't seen this in… Well it's never been this nice out here.

"Oi."

Ayato? I turned and there he was. But his face… I froze in a panic. On one side, his eye was that beautiful yellow-green, looking at me with a half-smile. It was genuine. He was being his usual sarcastic and playful self, but his smile was for me. I would have smiled back if not for the other half of his face. A frightening grin spread up to his cheeks and his fang was visible, covered in blood and it dripped out of his mouth and down his chin, leaving a puddle on the ground between his feet. He was standing in a large puddle. And his other eye… It was staring at me with a hunger I didn't like. I felt as if he would attack me at any second. But not for my blood. He was going to attack me to kill me.

Suddenly his entire face twisted and he let out a horrible laugh, a cackling, gurgling laugh. And then he lunged at me. I screamed.

"Oi!"

I screamed, bolting upright in my bed. Ayato was beside me, and all I could see was that twisted face and that laugh.

"Stay away!" I screamed, scratching at his face with my one hand. I didn't feel myself hit anything. I rolled over to the edge of my bed and ran for the door in my panic. But just as I got there, he was standing in front of me. I screamed again but this time he grabbed both sides of my arms and held me in place. I couldn't help myself—I started to cry.

"… Oi…"

I knew I was shaking, and the realization that it had all been a terrible nightmare was starting to hit me. But before, when Ayato shoved me against the wall, and he drank from me. That… that was real. He was still terrifying.

"Stay away from me…" I whimpered.

"You never answered my question," he said with a frown, and I looked up and paused. Was he… embarrassed? There was a faint blush on his face and I wondered if he'd been drinking recently.

"I… I don't… What was it again?" I felt stupid, but something about his expression made me drop my guard.

"Is that… the kind of thing that you want? What that boy… did to you?" His blush suddenly became a bit darker and I finally realized what he was asking me. "Those… human things… you're a vampire now, but you still think like a human? You still…"

"Did you think I would act like someone I'm not because I have vampire blood in me now?" The high from waking up so suddenly was beginning to fade and I realized that I was still weak from losing a lot of blood.

"Just… answer me."

"I still don't really understand what you want me to say, Ayato-kun…" I was getting dizzy. I knew I should sit down, but he still had his hold on me.

"What he did to you," he pressed, and I could hear the aggravation forming in his voice. I felt like I could answer him and give him the answer he wanted, but a part of me wanted to hear him say it on his own. Maybe it was because my answer was yes. But I wanted those things… from him.

"What about it?" I whispered, looking away from his face.

"Is that what you want?" I didn't answer. I waited. "Is that… what you want… from me?"

I didn't hesitate. "Yes."

And then he was gone.

I had so many questions. I spend the majority of the day trying to sort out my own thoughts, like usual. I needed time to think about an array of different topics. Of course, the one that kept coming up was Ayato. And now that I basically told him I wanted him to kiss me… I didn't even know what to think. He ran away. That meant he didn't want to… Or, at least, that's what it would have meant if he was human. I didn't know what he was thinking now.

From what I learned from Reiji, Ayato had gone to him in the past about what would be needed for him to have a relationship with a human… with me? And Reiji told him that he would have to act like a human, and Ayato didn't like the sound of that, so he never brought it up again. I was still trying to find out what was so bad about having a normal relationship. I couldn't come up with why Ayato would be so disgusted by it.

I stood outside Reiji's office and knocked on the door. He said I could come to him with questions and he would answer them, so here I was. And I didn't have a lot of time before I had to get ready for school. I'd been in my room all day. I heard my stomach growl and remembered that I'd skipped all three meals today. I was glad I had cooking class as my first period.

"Yui." Reiji opened the door and looked down at me. His glasses were off and he looked groggy.

"I'm sorry. Did I wake you up? You were sleeping?"

"What can I do for you?"

Suddenly, my brain registered something. The way he was looking at me… it was different from the way he usually looked at me. But I couldn't figure out the difference. It… wasn't as mean? My brain did a flip and my carefully planned questions left me for a moment. Instead, I thought of a new question to ask.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

The question didn't faze him, as if he was doing something wrong. It remained in place, but I saw his eyes look past me for a second as he thought about how to answer.

"You could say… we're all hopeful… Would you like to come in?"

"Uhm… yes, thank you."

I stepped into his office. It always smelled the same—like old books, good-tasting medicine and chamomile tea.

"What brings you here?"

"I just have some questions that I've been thinking about…" I trailed off, remembering I already asked him a question. "What do you mean, "hopeful"?"

"You don't know?"

I paused. I assumed this was going to become slightly private, so I stopped and thought about how to reply. Then a lightbulb turned on in my head and I understood… slightly. But it seemed too barbaric for me to say aloud.

"You mean like… you thought I was coming here to…"

"Not once for a second did I think that. But like I said… there's a part of each of us that only wants what's natural."

A long moment of silence wafted around in the room until Reiji finally sighed.

"Your questions?"

"Oh, right! I'm sorry."

"Ask."

I fiddled with my hands in my lap as my questions once again disappeared from my mind. I should have written them down, I thought to myself.

"I wanted to ask about… vampire relationships. I don't understand—"

"I explained this to you already. Do I waste my breath when I speak to you?"

"No, I heard what you told me, but I was wondering if you could… give a more detailed answer?"

"We don't have time for me to explain everything to you, if that's what you came here for."

"Everything? No, I know. It's just that one…"

"Are you considering having relations with vampires?"

I gulped. I came here for answers. I nodded.

"Ayato?"

I looked up at him in shock. Was I an open book? Could all of the brothers tell? Would they be jealous? Would they fight as if they fought over my blood, because they've done it before? I suddenly got flooded with new ideas for questions I needed to ask but I stopped myself. I needed to focus and get one answer at a time.

"Or course it would begin with Ayato. He always rushes things…" Reiji shook his head.

"Will you answer my question?"

"I believe you'll be glad to hear that if you wanted to begin with Ayato, he's probably the one of us who would be more willing to… adapt to your needs."

I didn't want to bring up the fact that he said "begin with Ayato" as if I was going to move on to the others. I was still human, and the idea of being in a relationship with more than one of them at a time was… well, it was cheating.

"So…" I trailed off.

"You want to know more about vampire-human relationships?"

"Actually, I'd like to just start with vampire relationships. I was wondering how it would work if I was… born a vampire. If I didn't… think like a human about all this."

"Well, you would understand how vampires are and you would act based on our customs."

"Which are?"

"I already explained this to you…" He sighed in what seemed like defeat and just shook his head. "If you were vampire-born, you would take control of our coven and have children with whomever you chose."

"Can you… describe that?"

"Why? It's self-explanatory."

I gulped. I didn't feel comfortable asking about this, but I had a right to know. I just wished he didn't make me feel so awkward talking about it. I was curious, and it would help me think if I had it explained to me by someone who understood everything about what I wanted to know.

"Fine. In this case, with my brothers and I, I feel as if we would not be so easily taken over, so a female would have to make us submit. There are many cases where the coven would simply bow down and follow a female at first scent of her, but I'm telling you this based off of myself and the others. Submission comes in many different forms. It can be physical violence or even sexual submission. Simply stated, she would have to assert her dominance over a coven if the males did not accept her right away."

Automatically, that was very different from what I expected. I didn't actually expect anything, but it certainly wasn't that.

"Explain that to me," I quickly said, interested to hear more.

"In what sense? If you were to try something like that or if you were present?"

"Both." I didn't care. I wanted to hear it all.

"If you were to try that with us… I've already explained this, as well. We are yours. There would be no need for submission, not that you could accomplish that anyway with vampire-borns. You do not have our strength. It would be physically impossible. Your other question, if you were present… the female coming to our coven would have to kill you. There are no two females to a male. A female vampire would see you as a threat to her dominance and kill you."

"You would… try to stop her… wouldn't you?"

I didn't know why the thought made me scared, but I couldn't stop myself from asking. And this was only hypothetical. No one was coming to kill me.

"I can only say that we care for you, and it would pain me and my brothers if you were no longer with us. I cannot say how any of my brothers would react if another female approached them, especially one who would be eager to mate." I was staring at him wide-eyed, and he assumed that I wanted more on this subject. He didn't seem to mind talking about it. It didn't make him uncomfortable in the slightest. "I can say with a sort of confidence that it would be appealing, but if she were to harm you, we would not tolerate it… to an extent, of course."

"And you would…"

"Mate? Possibly. I've already told you, again. Female vampires are rare and many of us know a rare opportunity when we see it."

"But you said that two females to one male is…" I trailed off. What was I saying?

"You've haven't mated with any of us, Yui," Reiji said simply, and my face went red with embarrassment. How could I ask that as if I owned them? Was I scared that someone would take them away if I didn't… what, claim them? "I said we are yours… But none of us truly belong to you." I looked down, but he wasn't finished. "If you were to mate with Ayato, he would not be interested in another female vampire… if that is what you are asking. And at that point, if another female wanted Ayato, she would have to kill you first, and Ayato would keep you safe at the cost of his life. Since males don't live past their mates, it's very rare that a female vampire would try to take someone who already had a mate. It would lead in everyone's death… Unless, of course, the end goal wasn't the male, but revenge or jealousy."

Everything was getting jumbled into a bunch of swirling thoughts and I couldn't think straight. I pulled out a question I'd been thinking about all day and just asked. I was on a roll. I couldn't stop now.

"So what's involved in vampire relationships, then?" I asked. To deter him from bringing up something general, I added, "What makes it different from human relationships… from what I think about when I think of… being with someone."

"Do you not remember anything I've told you? We do not view relationships with love and lust. We see it as a means to an end—the survival of our species."

"Then… why protect your… mate?" It felt funny to call it that.

"Generally, it's because the female may be pregnant. We don't have devices that tell us whether or not that's true, and the human devices don't work on us… on you."

"What if you know she's not?"

"Instinct, I suppose. Someone you're familiar with and who you know will willingly have your children versus a female who wants to kill…" Reiji trailed off again and then sighed. "I told you this before as well, but we do feel… attachment. We don't use the word "love", but it would be the easiest way for you to understand."

"Is it love or isn't it?"

"Tell me what your definition of the word is and I'll answer you."

I paused. What was love? I didn't know how to describe it. You just felt it. Love was that one word that no one could put into words. How was I supposed to describe it to someone who supposedly never… I put my thoughts on hold. I remembered something he told me before. Reiji had said that all vampires have the same emotions as humans—sadness, joy, anger, bliss… even love. So why was he asking me this?

"You said you've felt it before, so why do I need to tell you what it is?"

"Oh, good. You've remembered something I said." He tone was slightly angry, but that was just Reiji. A part of me didn't doubt that he might try to drink my blood when this was finished, as punishment for asking questions he already gave the answers to. Truth was, I remembered what he told me. I just wanted different answers, or to at least hear them again, maybe with different words. I helped me to understand.

"Just… be honest with me. If I… wanted to try to… have a relationship…" I paused. This was more difficult to talk about than I thought it would be. I closed my eyes for a moment, knowing that Reiji was waiting impatiently for me to finish, and calmed my racing thoughts. When I opened my eyes, I asked with fake confidence. "What would I have to do to be in a relationship with Ayato?"

"Are you talking about changing for him? Or do you mean to ask, what would he have to do to be acceptable for you? Because both are very different things. And both would be equally as difficult for each of you."

"How about… meeting in the middle?"

"Yui…" Reiji closed his eyes. He reached for his glasses on the counter beside him and put them on before opening his eyes again. I didn't know how he knew exactly where to grab, but I didn't think too long on it. "Are you asking because you want that? Or are you asking to satisfy your curiosity."

"Does that matter? The answer should be the same either way, shouldn't it?"

"Yes… But the way that I put it would be different… Are you interested in this life?"

I thought for a moment. "Well, I am a vampire now, right?"

"You do know that you have another option, don't you? You could go live with a human and just tell him that you are unable to have children. You could live your life as a human just as easily as you could as a vampire."

My lips parted again as new thoughts came into my head. I looked at the ground. Why didn't I think of that before? I could leave, like Haru had said. Being a vampire changed nothing. I just couldn't have children. But I could adopt, right? I couldn't believe I was thinking about all this right now. I looked back up at Reiji.

"Then let's just say I'm asking because I'm curious."

"Very well. The emotional part for humans is, as you know, very strong. For vampires, it doesn't have to be. We don't need to feel… attached to a female to properly and willingly father their children, and females feel the same way. For this reason, we've never found it important to express our feelings of attachment to others of our kind, male or female. It doesn't take precedence in our race like it does yours. On the physical side, humans require touch. This is the same for vampires. We crave physical satisfaction from our mates. We also have something known as blood sharing, in which both participants drink from each other. We consider this as you would consider protected sexual contact—strictly for pleasure."

"You don't… have… fun?" I didn't know how else to put it.

"We do, but we can replace your form of pleasure with our own as well. We have both… but I can't see a vampire having sexual reproduction without wanting children. It doesn't seem… rational to us."

"So what is… blood sharing?"

"Are you asking how you would do something like that? Since you have no fangs and vampire skin is tough, you would just have to have your mate open a wound. I would recommend doing it yourself—using a knife or something like that."

"But I couldn't drink blood." The thought made me shiver involuntarily.

"You could try."

Reiji's eyes were almost lidded and I suddenly got the feeling that talking about this was different for both of us. Like I was uncomfortable before, now it seemed like this was making him uncomfortable. He did say that blood sharing was like sex-for-fun, and although it seemed silly to me and unconventional, it was actually like I was talking to Reiji about how he liked to have sex. Almost as if we were getting too personal with each other.

So I dropped it and decided to switch to another question. But when I opened my mouth, my thoughts were swirling again and I couldn't come up with anything. Thankfully, Reiji spoke faster than I could and headed for the door, pushing his glasses up his nose and taking his eyes off of me. Maybe that made him more uncomfortable that I thought.

"We have to leave soon. You should go get prepared for your night classes."

I nodded and headed for the exit, making sure to bow slightly in his direction when I said, "Thank you for your time." He nodded once in reply and shut the door behind me. No matter how often he spoke of rules and politeness, I always found his behavior quite rude. I made my way down a few halls and up some stairs until I was back in my room, getting ready for school. And I was surprised when my mind finally cleared up.

Everyone had been quite lively on the way to the school. Kanato talked to Teddy the whole way down, and Laito talked about how bright and beautiful the mood was. Ayato had his usual comments to tick off Subaru and Reiji scolded them for bickering. Shuu listened to his music and slouched lazily in his seat, listening to his music with a serene look on his face. It seemed as if everything was back to normal.

As we got out of the limo and everyone disappeared for their classes, I noticed that Kanato and Ayato were still with me. They usually disappeared like the others and then met up with me during first period, but they were talking. They weren't even paying attention to me. So I took a slow breath and headed off on my own anyway. Either way, they would meet up with me during our cooking class.

I entered the empty room and sat down at a desk near the back, next to the window so I could see the stars while I waited for everyone else to file into the room. We were always early, for the most part, so I was used to waiting for a bit when we first arrived. It was nice to have things back to normal, I thought. I was happy.

As a few people came in, no one sat next to me or behind or in front of me. In fact, I didn't have any friends here, so everyone stayed away from me. That would be back to normal, too. I suddenly remembered Haru, and hoped he wasn't here today. Because if he was, I would have to see him next period… And I would be with Ayato, too, and I didn't know what was going on with him right now. I wasn't even sure if he would want to get in the pool with me today. I might just have a boring day in the shallow end, splashing around by myself in my own little kiddie pool. That didn't sound like fun. I sighed, but I couldn't hear myself because the bell rang at the same moment and people came rushing into the room. I noticed Kanato had taken his seat to my left, and I turned around, expecting to see Ayato behind me, but it was a stranger. I blinked a few times and looked around. And then I saw him. He was on the other side of the room. I looked to Kanato for some comment or other, but he didn't look at me.

We were learning about converting measurements today, to my dismay. I thought we would be making something because I hadn't had dinner. I was starving and my stomach wasn't about to let me forget it. It continued to growl and grumble throughout the whole class, and my face turned pink when a couple people turned to stare at me when they could hear it.

The bell rang at the end of class and I picked up my things and headed for the door. I looked where Ayato had been sitting but he was already gone. Kanato didn't seem to care and he was gathering his things next to me. He quickly locked eyes with me, and then picked up Teddy and walked to his next class. I frowned and decided not to think about Kanato too much, either. He did some strange things that I would never even attempt to try to explain.

After making my way to the locker room, I found an open spot under one of the shower heads and placed my bag down. There were metal walls between each shower area, and I picked the one in the corner so no one could watch me as I changed into my bathing suit. I placed my school uniform on top of my school bag and walked out, making myself blend in with a crowd of girls who were laughing and gossiping with one another. I just wanted to get into the pool and avoid Haru. I didn't want to see him or lock eyes with him or even go near him. I was sorry, but I was also scared, and I didn't know why. Maybe because I knew that if he asked me to choose between him and the brothers, I would choose the latter… I would choose Ayato.

It wasn't that I had anything against him. Heck, it wasn't even that I didn't like him. It was just that now I understood my position a little better.

The thought of reciprocating Haru's feelings for me almost made tears wells up in my eyes. It was sad to me, because I knew I felt something for him. But after learning everything and knowing the truth. It made me less interested, so to say. And poor Haru wouldn't understand. He could never understand. He lived in a different world, where vampires were only real in scary stories and things like my life just weren't part of his reality. I just wasn't part of the life that he lived. And in a way, that made him much less attracting to me. I also realized that it made vampires slightly more attractive…

I took a chance and lifted my eyes to look around. No Haru. I sighed with relief. But no Ayato, either. More tears welled up in my eyes, but I didn't let them go over. I knew they were probably red now, but no one paid attention to me anyway. No one would notice and my red eyes would be gone in a minute or two. Back to normal, I thought.

I quietly made my way to the ladder at the shallow end of the pool and climbed into the water, just as the teacher gave his little speech and left the room. As usual, everyone jumped in and started having their usual fun. I avoided crashing into anyone as I made my way along the side of the pool, careful to stay in an area I could place my feet down in.

"Hey," a soft voice said, and I didn't want to turn around. A part of me just wanted to pretend I didn't hear anything and keep moving along the side of the pool. Another part of me knew that he would probably just follow until I responded. So I gulped and turned.

"Haru," I replied with a light smile.

"Are you okay? Yesterday… I don't even know what happened. I thought they hurt you. Did they hurt you? That Ayato guy…" His face suddenly turned into one of anger, but he calmed himself down. This wasn't going to do. I couldn't do this. I had to tell him to leave me alone, before he got hurt. Emotionally from me or physically from the Sagamaki brothers.

"Listen, Haru—"

"Oh my god!" I looked over when a blonde girl in a red, slutty two-piece jumped out of the water and pointed behind me. She wore a huge smile and a face of awe. So did many of the people behind her. Curious, I turned to see what she was pointing at… and a huge splash hit me in the face. It went in my nose and my mouth and flattened out my hair. When I wiped my eyes dry I opened them to find Ayato standing directly in front of me.

"Yo!" he said, hands on his hips and a big smile on his face. His hair was wet, so I assumed it was him that just dove into the pool, splashing me. I stared at him for a moment, very aware that all of his attention was on me, and I was staring at his naked chest, and quickly shook it off. The water came up to his mid-stomach where we were standing.

I looked up at his face and realized something that I already knew. He was gorgeous. He lifted a hand and ran his fingers through his hair to shake some of the water out, and his wet hair brought out the brightness of his already-bright eyes.

"Ayato…" I started, unsure of what to say. I was just very glad he was here. I thought he wasn't going to show up, and to be honest, he just made my day.

"Hey! You!"

I turned, expecting to find Haru behind me again, but when I looked behind me, he was nowhere in sight. Instead, the blonde girl in the skimpy red bathing suit sauntered past me in the water and stood very close to Ayato.

"That was a nice dive," she said, and I noticed her flirty tone. "The name's Ereka. I just moved to town last week. This is my third day here and I can finally say that this school isn't so bad." She looked him up and down and I rolled my eyes. If only she knew who she was talking to… or what she was talking to. Then she wouldn't be so eager for his attention.

But something else made me feel something weird. Ayato gave her what she wanted and for a moment, his attention was fully on her. I felt like an outsider, and I'd never felt like that with Ayato before. He was always there… always watching me. Even if sometimes he was eerie about it. And it suddenly felt like I could be dying and he wouldn't have noticed. And it hurt. A lot. I felt a stinging and I knew my eyes were starting to turn red again.

"Not like this is a surprise," a voice said from above me and I looked up. It was Haru, running a towel through his hair as he walked along the side of the pool. He didn't look at me. I watched him as he disappeared through the boys' locker room doors. I glanced back at Ayato and jumped. She was getting very close to him and laughing… and he was staring at the girl's neck. My eyes widened.

"Ayato!" I shouted, and as soon as his name left my lips, I got the feeling that everyone's eyes were on me.

The girl, Ereka, turned and glared at me. But she also wore a smirk. She took one step towards me and said, "I'm sorry, is he your boyfriend?"

I blinked a few times. No. Of course not. Ayato as a boyfriend? That was just silly. Even if we were involved, I don't think I could ever call him that. It sounded so… human. And it almost made me laugh. Maybe being a vampire changed me more than I thought.

"No," I said, and my almost-laugh came through in my voice. I noticed Ayato's eyes on me, but I couldn't read his expression. The girl tilted her head and looked at me as if I was a child.

"Well, then, I'm sure he doesn't need his mommy right now."

I was taken aback. This girl couldn't be serious… could she? Ayato would suck her dry if she did this. I was almost sure of it. And if not, he would certainly want her blood either way and I didn't want that to happen. I couldn't exactly pinpoint why I didn't want it to happen, but I settled on the nicest version—I didn't want Ayato hurting someone just because they were stupid and naïve.

I ignored the girl and looked past her to Ayato. I tried to give him the best disapproving look I could manage. "A-ya-to…" I said slowly, stressing each syllable. I knew that even when I tried to sound fierce, I still sounded like a little girl, but I hoped Ayato knew that I didn't want him biting this girl.

"What?" he replied. His face turned into a playful smirk again and he showed his white teeth. He really was gorgeous. And I got the feeling that he was playing with me. This was very different from last night…

I couldn't talk to him out here. All I could do was give him looks. And that wasn't going to do much to deter Ereka from provoking Ayato further. Because although she thought she was flirting, and maybe she would get something out of it, she was only provoking a thirsty vampire. And that wasn't good.

"Maybe she's just jealous," Ereka said, turning back to him. And Ayato lifted an eyebrow at her, and then looked to me. I could only stare back at him. What was he trying to do? But then he smirked again and walked past the blonde. It seemed like he was moving in slow motion in the water. He brushed away Ereka's hand that reached out for him and she frowned and narrowed her eyes at me. But I just watched Ayato. He came so close that our chests almost touched and he looked down at me. I could feel his breath in my hair. I slowly glanced up and saw that same smirk, and his yellow-green eyes were watching my like a cat and mouse.

"Don't worry, Pancake," he said, lifting a hand and placing it on the side of the pool next to me. His smirk was unfaltering. "You've got nothing to be jealous of."

I could only stand there in shock as he finally moved his hand and walked towards the deep end of the pool. When the water came up to his chest, he dove in, and came back up a couple feet out, smirking at me. I wanted him to stop doing that.

I knew he wanted me to follow. As was our usual routine during this class—he made sure I didn't drown as I tried to teach myself how to swim in the deep end. I waited for a few seconds without moving and Ayato quietly laughed and dove back under the water.

"Isn't he hot?" I heard someone say behind me and I turned. A group of girls were chattering amongst themselves.

"Yea, I never even noticed before now. I don't know how I could've missed him. He's so sexy. Look at him go." And then the girls squealed and I had to roll my eyes. What was this school coming to? One girl gets interested in Ayato and suddenly he's on every girl's date-list? He was the last person girls should be interested. Well… human girls. Which I wasn't anymore…

Taking in a deep breath, I looked for Ayato's shadow under the water and then made my way towards the deep end. I passed Ereka and she threw me a glare. People are so ungrateful, I thought. She would never know what I just did for her. She would never understand, and she would probably hate me. And there was nothing I could—

I was suddenly pushed forward and my front foot slipped. I fell under the water and scrambled to get up, but I was already almost to the point where I couldn't stand and I felt my body begin to panic, despite what my brain was trying to do. I tried to find a footing so that maybe I could walk back to the shallow end until my head came above the water level. I couldn't be too far away… But my footing lost its hold and I fell backwards underwater, slowly. I tried to get upright, but my head banged against the side of the pool. I tried to shout in pain, but when I opened my mouth, water rushed in and I involuntarily coughed, dragging more water into my lungs.

I knew it wouldn't kill me. I knew Ayato would be there as soon as he saw I went under. So I wasn't surprised in the least when I was vomiting up water as he cradled me in his arms. When I had a moment of peace, I opened my eyes. He looked down at me with a frown, disapproving. I frowned back at him. Disapproving? I almost drowned! Something hit me from behind and I lost my footing. He was the one who was supposed to be making sure this didn't happen anyway.

We stayed like that for a little while. Ayato, frowning at me and me, in his arms, frowning back. No "are you okay?" and no "thank you"s. I wanted to ask what took him so long and tell him that I banged my head, but I kept my mouth shut and continued our frowning battle. And I wouldn't have stopped if it wasn't for the second round of coughing that hit me and I doubled over in his arms. I felt him move and place me on my feet. We were back in the shallow end, and he was between me and the deep end. My throat hurt something fierce.

And then I heard laughing. It was coming from the group of girls that had been ogling Ayato before I went under. They were looking straight at me and Ereka was a part of them now, laughing the loudest. Had she pushed me? I wanted to be angry, but I knew she didn't know I couldn't swim. How could she? It must have been a joke. She wouldn't actually push me under if she knew I couldn't swim… right?


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Haru had skipped third and last period, and I hoped it wasn't because of me. He seemed pissed during swimming class, and I guess it was for a good reason. I couldn't tell him the truth either way, though. It probably wasn't worth thinking about anymore, but I couldn't help it. I had been about to tell him that I liked him, and he knew it. He knew what I'd been about to say before the Sagamaki brothers interrupted. I wondered if he thought there was still some chance that we could…

I shoved those thoughts aside. No. Absolutely not. I did not want to be involved with Haru right now. In fact, I really didn't want to be involved with anyone, including the vampire brothers. There was a time and place for everything, and now was not the time to be thinking about long-term relationships.

Last period ended in a drag, like every hour was really more like three hours, and watching the clock really did make time move slower. But when the limo finally pulled up to the front of the school, Haru came running outside. I thought he'd gone home, but he really had just been avoiding me. I turned away, expecting him to keep running, but then his hand was on my shoulder, spinning me around.

"Hey," he said. His voice was firm and a little angry, but his expression made it seem like he was trying to be civil.

"Hey."

"What's your deal? Do you hate me now or something?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, please." He rolled his eyes and then looked at me, angrier. His civility had gone. "You run off with those rich assholes and then never want to talk to me again? I'm not stupid. They said something to you."

They certainly did. They said a lot…

"Did they say I'm bad for you? They're psychopaths, Yui! They told me… they're just fucking weird, okay?! And I really think you need to get away from them! I want to help! That's all I want, Yui! I just want to help you!"

"Back off," Ayato growled, walking up behind him. I saw him coming, but I didn't have the emotional strength to stop Haru from talking. He sounded so sincere… It was heartbreaking.

Haru turned and scowled. "You're hurting her, you know that?"

"Yea, yea. Come on, Pancake. We've got plans."

"What?" What plans? I didn't know about anything.

"I'll tell you in the car. Come on."

The last thing I saw when I turned around was Haru eyeing up the back of Ayato's head like he was contemplating murder.

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"Dinner?"

We pulled up to a large building made of red bricks and a wooden roof. I didn't know that vampires liked Italian. Their meals were always prepared by Reiji and I didn't remember him ever making pasta with red sauce and garlic bread with Chianti. And I couldn't even picture the brothers eating that kind of food. It just seemed too… messy. And red. Vampires eating red sauce just seemed like a really bad joke. I could picture it dripping down their chins… Ayato's chin.

I glanced over at him and he smirked when he saw me.

"Hungry?" he asked, and then he parted his lips and stuck out just the pink tip of his tongue, brushing it over his upper lip. I caught a quick, purposeful flash of his fangs. I looked away before I could blush.

It was probably close to one in the morning. The sky was cloudy, too, so when I stepped out of the limo and looked up, I couldn't find the moon. The stars wouldn't give any light through the clouds, either. It was dark—perfect for creatures who flourished in the nighttime.

"Is this place even open this late?" I asked. There were only a few cars parked in the lot, and I knew it was a stupid question because I could see that there were lights on inside. But I felt like asking anyway just to say something.

"You'd be surprised which places are open late, Bitch-chan," Laito whispered, leaning towards me. I involuntarily shivered. "The night is when all the fun happens, after all." He shrugged and walked ahead of everyone, heading for the big mahogany doors. The rest followed him and I made sure to keep up with Shuu so I wasn't behind everyone. Nighttime might be when all the fun happened, but it was also the time when a girl like me had to look over her shoulder every few seconds.

Of course, that was an exaggeration when I was surrounded by the Sagamaki brothers. As menacing as they were, they still had some protective tendencies towards me, and I doubted that they would let some random stranger just come up to me, for whatever reason.

"Ayato-kun?" I said softly, hoping the other brothers wouldn't hear. It was a silly hope, but I couldn't help but be part-human anyway.

I watched Ayato's eyes as he turned to me, a flash of yellow-green and his trademark smirk. He slowed down so that he was beside me and Shuu walked past me to give us some privacy.

"Ayato…" I started, but trailed off. I knew what I wanted to say. I wanted to tell him that I wasn't going to tolerate him biting people at the school, but… Why? For all I knew, he did it anyway. Vampire had to feed, and because they hadn't been biting me recently, that probably meant that they were getting blood elsewhere. And they never talked about it with me. Why would they? And it just felt weird to ask them about that.

"Hmm?" He lifted an eyebrow when I didn't continue.

"I guess I just wanted to say…" I trailed off again. I wanted to say… what? Ayato, don't bite the new girl at school? Ayato, don't act like such a vampire all the time? It's okay to have human friends? I didn't even know what I was trying to say. And what was that look he was giving me? "I don't want you to hurt anyone…"

He narrowed his eyes and then just walked ahead, leaving me in everyone's dust.

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We sat around a large table in the back. Apparently, this is the kind of thing that Reiji spent their money on. They own the back part of the restaurant and had a curtained-off section away from the rest of the people. It was very fancy—its own separate room with a large fountain in the corner and carved emerald decorations lining the shelves on the walls. They served our meals almost fifteen minutes ago, and I was right—vampires eating red sauce was like a bad joke. Thankfully, under Reiji's careful watch, everyone was using their napkins. I couldn't help but picture things in my mind anyway.

I ordered a miniature calzone, a side salad and a small bowl of tortellini with melted cheese. I wanted ice cream, but I knew I wasn't going to ask for it, especially since they were paying.

It was much different from a few days ago, when we all sat at the dining room table in the mansion in silence. Here, in their private room, it was much more pleasant than before. Laito kept harassing Kanato, pretending to drip wine on Teddy and laughing when the smaller vampire seethed with anger. Reiji was trying to strike up a conversation with Shuu, who was actually nodding and such instead of ignoring everyone. Subaru seemed calm, and for a few moments I just watched him slowly twirl his pasta on a fork and spoon—very proper-like—and gently bring it to his mouth. Ayato had been talking to me for a little while, but his attention had soon been diverted towards Laito's joking and Kanato's mild shouting. He joined in with them, laughing every so often.

It was the same in the fact that I was practically ignored, but it was still nice to see everyone in good spirits again.

The only downfall was that now I knew the secret—the secret about me. And I still had plenty of questions to ask Reiji. Was it a bad time to talk about those kinds of things here? I wasn't sure. I wanted to talk about it, and this was one of few times where they were all together in one place, and none of them were in a bad mood, either. That was rare, from what I'd seen.

"Could you pass the salt, please?" I asked, looking for maybe a different flow of attention around the table. Ayato sat to my right, and Subaru to my left. I watched as Ayato turned and eyed up my plate. His attention diverting to me drew Laito and Kanato's gaze as well. Reiji looked over, too. My gaze fell back on Ayato.

"Salt? For what?"

"My salad."

He looked at my plate like it had done something wrong.

"You've eaten almost all of it without salt already."

"Ayato," Reiji scowled. "Just give her what she asked for. That's bad manners."

"She doesn't even need it." He smirked. "Pancake just wants a little attention."

I flushed a bright shade of pink and look down at my lap. Was I really that easy to read? And now they all thought I was some little girl who needed to have some attention. I really just wanted to talk to them. Not even about my questions. Just… about anything.

I realized it had gone silent, and they were all looking at me.

"Well… why are all of you always ignoring me?" I asked, my voice coming out small and weak. I was still looking down.

There was a long pause before Reiji broke the silence.

"I thought I explained to you the position you're in. And you should understand the position we're all in, as well."

I finally looked up. What was he talking about? What position?

"I don't understand."

"You can be extremely dense sometimes. Do you know that? It's a miracle you can even feed and clothe yourself."

I know I'd just been insulted, but I wanted to talk about this. I couldn't let his usual insults scare me away from trying to talk to them.

"What position am I in?" I asked, and I was very aware of all the eyes on me.

"I've explained this to you more than two times now, Yui…" Reiji pushed his glasses up his nose in his impatience.

"No… I understand that I'm… part vampire and all that… well, the part about… having children. Is that what you're talking about?"

Reiji let out an aggravated sigh. "And now you're ruining our dinner…"

"Why can't you just explain it to m—"

"I'd rather not waste my breath, seeing as you don't listen to me the first ten times I try and explain things to you."

"She doesn't understand," Subaru said, and I looked over at him. "She doesn't know how these things work according to us. It's only natural that she would think like a human. In all your knowledge, Reiji, and you still don't understand that about her?"

"And she's curious," Ayato said, with a smirk. "You can explain something to her, sure, but she'll probably want to hear more. Especially because this is new to her."

Reiji spat. "You two defend her as if you've already bonded. And you speak like human filth. She's making you soft. All of you." He narrowed his eyes and I could only sit there in silence. Subaru had already gone back to eating, although he was tenser now. Ayato was glaring at Reiji, but then he turned back to me.

"Sorry, Pancake," he said with a light laugh. "It's just that you're with us and it's a little awkward that you don't want any of us. There's no reason male vampires would spend so much time with a female unless they were mated. It's only because you were human that everything is like this."

"It's not normal to just… be friends?"

A collective, low hiss echoed around the table and I jumped.

"It's already embarrassing for us," Reiji said, "Please don't try to make things better with your disgusting human concepts."

"I was just saying tha—"

"If a male vampire saw you in here with us, he would assume that we were all mated to you. But we aren't, so anyone of our kind would see our sharing living space with you as desperation. We would be seen as pathetic vampires. First of all, we are all nobles. We are purebloods from wealthy families and excellent backgrounds. Second of all, we can have our choice of female if we so desired, to an extent. You aren't even as physically capable as one of our infants. It's demeaning of you to assume that we enjoy spending this time with you as if we were some kind of human obscenity. You are no longer human, Yui. And it would be considerate of you to at least understand the position you've put us all in."

I gulped down a lot of shock and a little sadness. Reiji almost made it seem like they all wanted me to leave if I wasn't going to…

"What can I do to help?" I asked. It was the only thing I could think of to say.

"You could start by acting a little more like a vampire, now that you are one. Stop clinging so helplessly to your old life. It's despicable."

I looked around the table. No one was looking at me and it was solemn again. Did they all feel the same way? Did everyone just want me to… leave? But that's so cruel…

And Reiji was being extra unpleasant today. Before, he'd seemed so set on answering my questions and helping me figure out what I wanted to do. Now… He just seemed like he was angry, and it was all directed at me. And the silence made me feel like he spoke for everyone. Were they all mad? At me?

"I'm sorry." I quickly said. "May I ask a question?"

Reiji rolled his eyes and tore through his pasta with his fangs.

"Uhm… I'm sorry I can't help but think like a human, but I will try to consider how you do things now that I'm a vampire… But… if I don't… mate? If I don't mate with any of you… would you want me to leave—?"

"Yes—"

"No."

I looked over at Subaru when he cut off Reiji. He wasn't looking at me, though. Instead, he glared across the oblong table at the other man. He narrowed his eyes.

"Once again, you speak as if you've already bonded. But we all know you haven't."

"I do not believe that in Yui's case we have to force her to mate with us to be bonded. Because she was once human, she acts as if she's bonded to us, even now. She reacts to what we say. She feels emotions based on what we do."

"Well that side of her is wrong. She needs to learn to be a vampire now."

"And if she doesn't?" Ayato asked, lifting an eyebrow. "Would you not want her to mate with you if she stayed this way? Even if she wanted to?"

Reiji opened his mouth to answer, but then paused and thought about his next words. "The two of you are attached to her because of all the blood you've taken from her. You are not bonded. If you don't drink from her within the week, what you feel now will be gone. And then you will share my thoughts on this matter."

There was a long moment of silence. Subaru and Ayato looked like they were thinking about what Reiji said, but he was the one to break the silence.

"I believe that this should not go on longer than it needs to. Yui." He looked over at me. "If your intention is not to bond with any of us, then you are restricting us in a very private and immoral way. You should consider taking up residence in another location."

"What?" Ayato said, almost jumping up from his seat. "You're kidding? What if a male sniffed her out? If she's not within our property lines, they wouldn't care about going after her. If anyone does pick up her scent, the reason we haven't seen anyone else is because our property is marked. They can smell us, too. If she was by herself—"

"Then maybe she'll finally learn her _lesson_."

Ayato let out a sharp hiss and bared his fangs. Subaru let out a low growl as well, and to my surprise, Shuu shot a little snarl at the calculating vampire. Laito and Kanato stared at everyone, probably as surprised as I was.

"You will not kick her from the house," Shuu said, his voice calm and slow, despite his low growl. "The deed is in my name now. You have no authority."

"And your pride? Do you even _have_ any?"

"Pride… isn't vanity. If you're so concerned about how you look to others of our kind, then go find what you deem a proper mate. For those of us who disagree… we will not follow."

"You do realize what you're saying?"

Ayato snarled again, but Reiji ignored him.

"You're all ignorant. Yui probably doesn't have our immortality. You would waste years upon years following after a female that refuses to have you? Only to have her eventually die of old age and leave you to your wretched, miserable selves?"

"Who are you to say what I want, anyway?" I jumped in, and suddenly, it got quiet again. The only thought in my head in that moment had been my attachment to Ayato, and how before, I was considering trying to… well, start a relationship with him. It would have to be partly as if we were both human, not just vampire, but I was still willing to give it a shot. But how was I supposed to let that one out of the bag? I doubted I could just ask Ayato out to a movie or something…

"I've done a lot of thinking, Yui, and I've come to the conclusion that you may, eventually, end up choosing one of us. But then that will be all. Your human past will not allow you to take more than one of us. I have seen that you are incapable of many things that are custom to vampires and I am trying to protect my brothers' integrity."

"Well, you can stop," Subaru spat. "You're probably just upset because you know that if you're right, the last person she'd choose is _you_."

The table erupted into shouting on all ends. Everyone had something to say, and all I could do was look away. I glanced down at the table and tried to figure out if the pain I was feeling was emotional, or if it was the awful stinging behind my eyes. I didn't want to be here, at this table. I didn't want the brothers all fighting because of me. All of their problems were because of me…

I stood and quickly headed for the exit. I quickly pushed the curtains aside and walked out onto the floor. I made my way to the restaurant's exit and pushed open the doors. I was hit was a cool breeze, but as soon as the doors closed behind me, Ayato was in front of me and he took a step forward, pinning me against the doors.

"Aya—"

He leaned forward and bit into my neck. I flinched, but he only bit down with the tips of his fangs and then removed them. It stung, but it wasn't that bad. He drank only a little, but he kept his mouth against my skin. It made me shiver. Every few moments he would suck a little at the holes, drawing only meager amounts of blood—nothing he would bother with if he was feeding from hunger.

And then I remembered something Reiji had told me before and I wanted to try it. I reached down and took Ayato's hand with both of mine and he lifted his head from my shoulder. I slowly reached up and put his wrist to his lips. He blinked a few times, and then slowly bit down with only one fang. He closed his eyes as he began to take his own blood.

"No," I whispered, and he paused, opening his eyes. I pulled his arm a little and he let it go limp for me. Without a word or warning, I pulled his wrist to my mouth and sucked for a second. I heard Ayato hiss and pull away, but it wasn't before I took a little into my mouth and swallowed. It was awful. The taste was disgusting, and for a moment I thought I was going to wretch.

"Why would you do that?" Ayato asked, his breathing in pants. He cradled his forearm in his free hand. His eyes were wide and he was watching my face frantically, his gaze darting around like he was looking for something.

"I don't know…"

"Do you know what you've done?" he shouted, and then lowered his voice. He hissed under his breath.

"I thought it was just…" Well, the way Reiji had described it was the human equivalent to pleasure… I flushed. For a vampire… did Ayato take that as something like having sex in public? Somehow I doubted that. The look on his face made it seem more like I wounded him. I suddenly felt a strong rush of embarrassment—

"No, don't do that!" He dropped to his knees, still cradling his arm.

"Ayato!" I got on my knees as well and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. He was panting like he's just run a marathon. "Do what? What's wrong?"

"You're… so…"

He looked like he was about to collapse. His eyes lidded and he swayed back and forth.

"What happened?"

I jumped—and Ayato hissed—when Subaru appeared over us.

"I… I don't know—"

"She took my blood," Ayato whispered through clenched teeth.

Subaru's face went white and then I saw a faint blush hit his high cheekbones. What did it even mean? I didn't think they would react this way. He looked down at me.

"Why would you do that here?"

"She doesn't know what it does," Reiji said snottily, exiting the restaurant. The others were behind him, and then they weren't; they probably went back to the limousine.

"Go with the others. I'll get Ayato," Subaru said. He was purposefully not looking at me. Were they mad? Oh, god. What did I just do? Did I hurt him?

Ayato let out a pained moan and Subaru cursed under his breath, trying to hold the other brother upright.

"Try not to feel anything. He'll feel it, too, but… on a different level," he said to me and I turned to him. "How much blood did you take?"

"Uh… Barely anything."

"It should ware off in a few minutes then." He turned to Ayato, who was moaning as he dragged him across the parking lot to their vehicle. "Oh, give it a rest. It can't be that bad."

"Is he in pain?" I paused for a second so that I could walk next to the two of them, but as soon as the question left my lips, Ayato let out a sardonic laugh.

"No, Yui," Subaru said quietly. "He's not in pain."

"But he sounded like he was."

"First of all, it's very strange that his would happen to begin with… You're not bonded."

"Why does everyone keep saying that? How do you even know?"

"We would smell it. Vampires give off a certain scent when they've mated and bonded. You can't have one without the other."

We entered the limo and Subaru placed Ayato down on the longer side of the car so he could lie down. He was still making noises and his head was rolling back and forth, almost as if he was incoherent, even though his eyes were open and he kept grinding his teeth,

"Unless she different," Shuu added.

"Our little Bitch-chan certainly is special."

"It could only be because of her human history," Subaru said.

"So she can bond without mating…?"

"Which would make sense regarding why some of you have been acting like bonded males. She gives off a scent like she's mated with Ayato because she's bonded with him…"

"That's impossible."

"So was a Prospective Bride successfully changing into a vampire who could have pureblooded children."

"Has she bonded with anyone else?" Laito asked.

"I don't know," Subaru said, "Why don't we feed her our blood and find out?"

I jumped at that and Ayato groaned in response.

"I believe it's obvious she's bonded with you," Reiji said to Subaru, "And possibly Shuu."

"Definitely not you, though."

Reiji snarled at Subaru.

"What? So _now_ you like her?"

"Will you guys stop it?" I said, and they turned to me, eyebrows raised.

"You're just one surprise after another, Bitch-chan. After all, most bonded covens get along, but you're causing all sorts of waves. Although I can't say I don't wish you'd bond with _me_ …"

Laito crawled across the seats in the back of the car until he was almost on top of me. He put his face close to mine and I jumped when his hand ran down my side. Ayato let out a loud hiss, and then his moan made my face heat up. That moan definitely wasn't one of pain…

"Now this is something…" Laito said curiously. He leaned closer to me so his face was next to mine and he brushed his hand down my neck. I froze, but I shivered, and Ayato let out another long moan. Laito chuckled and glanced over at Ayato. "Feel good, brother?"

"I'm gonna kill you," Ayato breathed, baring his fangs.

"How about this?" He angled his head down and I felt his sharp teeth brushing against my skin. Ayato clenched his teeth and grunted loudly.

"That's enough, Laito," Reiji said. "Not when Ayato's like this. Have some decency." He turned to me when Laito backed off and sat back down in his seat. "And you… it would be… proper of you to take care of him. Seeing as you made him like this." And then he turned and looked out the window. Everyone else looked away as well. "And for next time… you don't share blood unless you're in private. I hope you know how this makes the rest of us feel."

I slid over and gently placed a hand on Ayato's shoulder, unaware of what they all expected me to do for him.

"I don't know…"Laito said with a smirk. "I kinda like it."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six:**

Because of the incident with Ayato, I assumed I was being punished. Everyone besides Subaru had gone off to school for the night, but I was forced to stay home. I still wasn't sure exactly what happened with Ayato, though, so I figured I'd use this opportunity to maybe get some answers from the youngest vampire brother. I really didn't think that going to Reiji was going to be a good idea anymore. I don't know what put him on edge, but I wasn't going to bother him with my curiosity from now on. And since Subaru seemed to be on my side a little more than the others, I assumed he was a good person to talk to.

I headed downstairs to the kitchen, hoping he'd be making himself something to eat. Unfortunately, when I got there, the place was spotless—untouched since the last time I made dinner for myself, probably. And that was a while ago. But then I got an idea. Vampires had inhuman abilities. Was hearing one of them?

"Subaru-kun?" I called, and then waited as I heard a slight echo bounce around the large room. I hadn't been shouting, but I hoped he'd hear me anyway. I also didn't want him to think that I was shouting for him because something was wrong or—

"What?"

I jumped and turned to find him standing there. So he _could_ hear me… I wondered how far away he'd been, and how quickly he'd come to me. Either way, he seemed a little pissed off. And even though that was usual for him, I couldn't help but wonder if something was on his mind.

"Are you all right?" I had to ask, especially if I wanted to start firing my questions at him.

He rolled his eyes with an angry sigh. "What do you want?"

Okay… I supposed I should just start asking then… "I was curious about a few things, and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind talking to me about…"

"Mating?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. Why did the thought of mating, or at least talking about it, make him moody? If the brothers all wanted to… I just figured it'd be something they were all open to discussing, even Subaru.

"Well, yes… but other things, as well."

"Like what?"

I quickly looked around. "Well…" I gulped. This was awkward… "Why don't we go somewhere else? I mean, the kitchen is—"

"I'll meet you in your room."

And then he was gone. I had to gulp again. Why did it have to be in my bedroom? I hope he didn't expect anything to happen. I just said I wanted to talk…

I took a deep breath and headed back the way I'd come from. When I was standing in front of my door, it was open a crack, so I just swallowed my nervousness and stepped inside. Against my better judgement, I closed the door behind me. Subaru was standing through the curtains, on the small patio outside the glass door that served as my usual window. He turned and walked back inside when I took a step forward. Thankfully, he left that door open. There was a warm breeze coming in from the night.

"So," he said, "What did you want from me?"

And I couldn't help myself. "Why do you keep saying it like that? Like you're bothered by me. Should I not have called you? I just thought that bringing my questions to Reiji, like I normally would, wouldn't be the smartest idea right now, seeing as he's mad at me for being all post-human-vampire. So I just thought I could talk to you. And we're the only people here for a few more hours anyway, so even if I didn't have questions, wouldn't it be nice to just talk? Or at least spend some time together. You're always gone. You never want to do anything other than walk around by yourself."

When I was finished with my little rant, I paused, but Subaru was still looking at me like he was bored or something. Fortunately, he spoke up before I could jump back into my rant.

"What questions do you have?"

"Well, first, I wanted to know about last night… you know, with Ayato."

I saw a slight blush color his cheeks. He turned his head and gaze away from me. "What about it?"

"What happened to him?"

"You took his blood."

"I know that. But what happened?"

He still wouldn't look at me so I just watched his face. He was still blushing. What did all this even mean to vampires?

"Subaru… listen, I know that this is weird for you to talk about. Reiji said that before, but I really just want to understand things better. I just… don't understand—"

"Blood sharing…" he trailed off, and then looked at the ground as he spoke. "It was originally used by females to force their bonded males into submission when they desired offspring. As time went by, our kind learned to use it for pleasure instead of dominance, although that tradition never ceased, either way. A female would simply take the blood of her males and they would become immobile, for the most part. And then the female would dominate them to have children while they couldn't fight back."

I froze. That… wasn't romantic at all. I didn't know why I thought that maybe this would be something that could be a little more human, but I certainly guessed wrong.

"It's not all bad," Subaru continued, almost as if he read my mind. "That was mostly in the past. It's not like how humans think of rape, if that's what you were thinking—the female has to be bonded to a male in order for this to work, so the male must have already chosen the female as a mate. Therefore, a female couldn't just force herself on any male. Of course, that's clearly not true in your case. You seem to have the ability to dominate males without their consent."

I flushed this time. "I would never…"

"I know. It's just strange. Any other female with your… defect, would take full advantage of it, while you seem to dislike it. Not that any of us mind. It would be extremely disrespectful for us to mate with a female we're not bonded to."

"I thought… once you mate, you're bonded."

"Well… it's a choice, to an extent… If it's forced, under stress or fear, or whatever… a male can choose not to bond with a female. No one wants to do that. It's… demeaning. In all honesty, a male would probably force himself to bond with a female even in that situation, just to save himself from the self-humiliation."

"So, then… what happened with Ayato?"

"It's not as if you dominated him, but I'm sure it made him feel… uncomfortable. I would suggest mating with him before taking his blood again, just because it's probably messing with his body… internally."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not going to give you a lesson on vampire anatomy and sexual mentality, but just as humans become bonded in their own way after mating, vampires do the same, just it's a lot stronger. For Ayato to have felt your bond to him without being bonded himself… I really couldn't tell you what it would feel like because I have no idea, but picture someone mating with you, and then if you could feel that kind of bond that they have with you, but you have no attachment to them at all… Well, I doubt that clarifies things, but…" He trailed off again, probably at a loss for words. It sounded complex, but I thought I understood it a little better. But he still wasn't answering my core question.

"So… what exactly happened to him?"

"You took his blood. Your body is bonded to his, however that happened, and…" He trailed off again. "You could say that your body… does things to blood that you've been bonded to, and then the owner of that blood can feel what you're doing to it… if that makes sense."

"I didn't do anything. I just swallowed like… a drop."

"It's not what you voluntarily do. Once Ayato's blood was inside of you, your body takes it and…"

"And what?"

Subaru just stared at me for a moment before I realized that he wasn't going to answer me. I guess I had to use my imagination on that one.

"So, it's like… sex?" I winced at my own words.

"Stronger."

"Oh…"

"He can feel your emotions physically attack his body. It happens at the full effect for only a short time, but even now, he probably feels a little bit of what you're feeling, and he will for maybe another twenty-four hours. Distance also doesn't matter."

"So… He's at the school, and he can…"

"It's not that strong since he's not bonded with you, so he can probably only feel something strong, like fear or panic. He wouldn't sense much else than that."

"And if he was… bonded to me?"

"He would feel everything… in moderation. I've heard that males can ignore happiness and simple emotions like that, just because it would be a pain to feel everything. It's mostly just for protection—if you're in danger and you're afraid, he would probably come to you, even now."

"Oh." And then another thought hit me. "Reiji said that I may have also bonded with you and Shuu…" I trailed off when I saw him suddenly clench his teeth and look away. "Is something wrong? I'm sorry, I know this is weird for you. Like I said before, I'm just curious because I don't fully understand—"

"Yui."

I paused for a second at his interruption. "Hmm?"

"…Would you say no if I asked you to take my blood?"

"Excuse me?" I jumped.

"Don't you want to know if you've bonded to me?"

"Well, yes, but isn't that—"

"It would be easier for you to understand if…" He paused and then dropped his head again. "Sorry," he said, and then stood. He made for the door before I realized I was losing a chance. Subaru rarely dropped his guard like this.

"Wait," I said, not sure if it was the best thing to do to call him back. He paused, but didn't turn. "I am curious about that, too. If I'm… bonded to anyone other than Ayato. I just… would it be weird…? To do something like that? If you're saying it's stronger than sex… I don't know… it seems… wrong?"

"It's not mating, Yui. And it's only strong in that way if you want it to be. Blood sharing can do other things, as well, such as strengthen a bond."

"It's not weird to you?"

"I would welcome it, as would any other male."

"Even if you're not… bonded?"

"I don't really know how all of this works with you, since you were once human, but I still feel something like a bond because you are now a vampire. It's only strange because things have been happening—and not just to me, but to my brothers as well—that would suggest that some of us have already bonded to you, even though none of us have. If anything is weird… it's that." He walked over and sat on the edge of my bed, on the opposite side as me. "I don't fully understand what's been happening, but I can try to explain things to you through experience…"

"I… I don't think I want to do that…" I said slowly, hoping I wasn't going to make him angry by refusing.

Unfortunately, it made him a little annoyed. I could see his expression change, and I felt like I had to do something or he would just leave.

"May I ask more questions?"

"What a pointless question that is. If you have more questions, just ask them."

"Okay…" I tried to organize my jumbled thoughts so he wouldn't get too much more annoyed with me. "I was going to try and talk to Reiji about this but…" I trailed off. Subaru was just watching me, and he still looked peeved. "Well, I would like to try to get closer to… all of you, but I was wondering if we could compromise on the "how" of it."

"I don't understand what you're asking," the white haired man said, narrowing his eyes. "What kind of compromise?"

"Well… since I was human, I think of relationships as a human would, so… if you guys could compromise on… the "how"—"

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"I guess…" He was getting more and more irritated and I just said whatever came to mind. "Well, I was thinking about asking Ayato out on a date."

"That's petty."

I instantly lowered my gaze.

"You would make him pay for your meals and hold doors and dance and court you like a _human_ would? That's demeaning, Yui. You would actually embarrass him like that? You don't' realize that you're already torturing us enough?"

I couldn't even look up anymore. I hadn't thought of it like that…

"I just thought… I just thought that it was a way for us to…" I trailed off again.

"You humans and your emotions," he tsked. "You can't just feel something. You have to act on every little emotion and prove that you feel something to each other instead of just yourself. It's so… desperate."

I wanted to say that I wasn't a human anymore, but I guess that point was mute. I guessed I got my answer, though, so I decided to move on to another question.

"What about… if I don't mate with any of you?"

Subaru instantly narrowed his eyes at me.

"I-I mean… Reiji said he'd want me to leave if that was my choice—"

"And is it?"

I paused, but I already knew the answer.

"No."

And then Subaru was silent for a moment as well.

"Ayato?" he asked, and I could only nod. "You want to bond with him?" I nod again. "Well, he'll certainly be glad to know that."

"You wouldn't say anything."

"If you don't want me to, I won't. But I don't understand your reasoning for that. Another human notion, I assume?"

"Probably," I muttered.

"And as for the rest of us? Was Reiji correct in his statement that your human past will not allow you to take more than one mate?"

"I…" I trailed off. "I want to be honest with you… I've wanted to talk to someone about this for a few days now…"

Suddenly, a stinging feeling rose from inside my mouth and I winced. My gums started to throb slightly, like a soft heartbeat, and I put my hand to my mouth.

"Yui?" Subaru asked, watching me carefully.

"Something's wrong…" I said, rubbing my fingers over my gums. And then, the pain hit, and I screamed for only a few seconds before everything went dark.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"…don't understand how this could even…"

"…not like we can predict anything at this point anyway…"

"…see that one coming…"

"She's moving."

"Yui?"

I slowly opened my eyes and Ayato was right in front of my face. I jumped a little, but he just smiled.

"Yo."

"Ayato-kun?" I lifted my hand and rubbed the back of it against my sore eyes. "What… What happened?"

"You look good," Laito said, and he was standing in the corner of the room, smiling at me, too. Subaru was standing next to the door, his arms crossed, watching me. The others were missing.

"I like it," Ayato said, reaching his hand up to my face. "They're small… but I like 'em smaller anyway." His fingertips rested on my lips and I jumped again. "Open for me," he says, and I flush. What?

"Ooh, Bitch-chan's getting excited. Don't tease her too much now, Ayato. Save some fun for the rest of us."

"Your mouth. Open your mouth, Pancake."

"W-Why?—" I started to ask, but as soon as my lips parted for me to speak, he stuck two fingers into my mouth. I jumped once more.

"Don't bite me now," he teased, and I flushed even more.

"Ayato…" Laito purred. If you keep making her look like that, I'm going to have to some over there."

"Just shut up already…" Ayato said offhandedly, while his fingers explored in my mouth. I just stared, wide-eyed at him. He went back to smirking when his fingers paused on one of my teeth. I felt him rub it back and forth and for some reason, it sent chills down my spine. I shivered uncontrollably, and both Ayato and Laito laughed. Subaru scoffed and then turned and exited the room. What the hell was going on?

"Ayato-kun…" I mumbled around his fingers, and he took them out. "What happened? I remember…"

"You scared me," he replied, still smirking. "It was faint, because I'm not bonded to you, but I could feel when you were in pain for a moment. Turns out you may not be so human anymore, after all."

"I don't… understand."

"You're like a newborn. Reiji said you may even fully transition at this rate."

"What?"

"Here." He grabbed my one wrist and brought my hand up to my mouth. He then grabbed my pointer finger and stuck it in my mouth. At first, I wanted to recoil or push him away, but after a second, I felt a sharpness at the tip of my finger and I froze. "You feel it?" Ayato asked with a light smile.

"I have… fangs?"

"They're so _tiny_!" Laito chirped in, clapping his hands once. "You're adorable, Bitch-chan!"

"W…Why did this happen to me?"

Reiji walked into the room and looked right at me.

"The transition from the Awakening may not have been fully completed as soon as you turned. Maybe you'll fully transition over time, but because no one's ever done this before, there's no way to know for sure. You could just grow fangs and then that's it. Or… you could actually _turn_ _into_ a pureblood. I don't even know if that's probable, but… based off of what you've done so far, there's no way to tell, and it seems like nothing's impossible at this point. It just means that your transition may not actually be complete."

"I… I feel different, too." And it was true. Something about me was different. Maybe it was my vision. It had to be. I glanced at Ayato. He looked different—brighter. His hair was brighter. So were his eyes. His smile, too. His skin looked softer. I… I paused for a moment just to look at him. He was… beautiful. He was… desirable to me.

I instantly blushed and looked away, hoping no one had noticed, but then Ayato turned and smirked. He leaned forward and I froze. He put his mouth right next to my ear and whispered.

"Pancake… I felt that."

"Ayato, what are you doing?" Laito asked, laughing. "Her face just got so red, and I can smell her desire from over here." And _that_ just made my face get even hotter. He was kidding… right?

"I feel fine now," I quickly said, trying to sit up. Ayato sat back and watched me with that smirk of his plastered on his face. Laito was watching me with amusement written all over his expression. Reiji was purposefully avoiding eye contact, for whatever reason.

I sat up and swung my legs over the makeshift bed. Why wasn't I in my room, anyway? At least no one had touched my clothes…

"It seems fangs aren't the only change to you…" Reiji suddenly said and I frowned, looking over at him. Then I looked down at myself. I looked exactly the same, except for the two, tiny sharp teeth.

"What do you mean?"

"It seems you've grown more attached to us as a species," he said lightly, coughing a bit, and Laito laughed, like it was some kind of joke. "Your scent is… stronger, as well."

"Is that bad?"

"You smell more like one of us," Ayato added, "And the scent of that rare blood of yours is magnified alongside it. It's… delicious."

"You wanna try out your new teeth, Bitch-chan?" Laito asked, and I turned to find him pointing to his own exposed neck. I quickly shake my head and he snickers. "I hope you know this will only make me want you even more." I jumped a bit and headed for the door. I heard someone behind me, but I kept going until I was in a hallway I recognized. I headed straight for my bedroom. I had fangs… I had _fangs_ … I put my hand to my mouth again. That was… ridiculous.

As soon as I got there, I quickly closed the door behind me, not sure if anyone had really followed after me or not. I walked over to the vanity and sat down. Then, slowly, I parted my lips and looked in the mirror…

And there they were—two small fangs. My gums were bright red just above them, and I wondered how they just grew in. It looked like they replaced two of my old teeth, as well, but I don't remember them ever falling out. Maybe they reshaped themselves? Who knew…

I put a finger to one of them and rubbed it around. Suddenly, shivers went up and down my back and I froze. That felt… really good. I did it again and shivered again. How could touching my teeth feel that good? They didn't have nerves, except for at the bottom… Maybe they were sensitive from just coming in?

"Here. Lay down."

I whipped around in the small velvet chair to find Ayato, pointing to my bed.

"Why?"

"Just do it."

I frowned, but stood and walked over to the bed anyway. I sat on the edge, and as soon as my body hit the mattress, Ayato was right in front of me and he pushed me down. I gasped as he pushed me until my head was just below the pillow and my feet were no longer hanging off the end.

"Ayato—"

"Shh…" He put one finger to my lips to silence me and then climbed on top. My eyes widened. What was he…? He pinned my legs down with his own. "Don't struggle. I won't bite," he added with a chuckle, "…Probably." And then he pushed his one finger between my lips and moved it around. I just watched him, partially scared to move, and partially curious about what he was doing.

And then he placed his finger over the full front of one of my fangs and pressed down hard on it. My mouth opened wide in a gasp and my whole body convulsed. Ayato just laughed as he held me down.

"Payback," he whispered. He rolled the tip of his finger around the tip and I couldn't control myself when my hips moved upward and I squirmed beneath him.

"Ayato…" I tried to say his name clearly, but it came out as a moan. This was… This felt amazing. It was like a sensual massage. I could do this for hours. I could fall asleep to this. And he kept doing it—the same motion over and over again. How was this payback? This was _heaven_. Was it like this for all vampires? Was this what it felt like when they bit someone, too? For a moment, I thought I understood the brothers and their kind just a little bit better.

And then an idea hit me. I moved a little so my one arm was free, and I reached up to Ayato. I cradled his face in my hand for a moment—he really was beautiful—before tracing my fingertips over his jaw and coming up to his mouth. He blinked a few times in shock before his expression went back to playfully arrogant and he parted his lips for me.

I stuck my finger inside of him, but I wasn't in the mood for curiosity. I immediately moved so that I could massage his fang like he was doing to me. As soon as I mimicked the circling motion, I felt his body slump down and he let some of his weight fall on me. He let out a long exhale and closed his eyes in tranquility. I continued to roll my finger around his one fang.

I don't know how long we stayed like that, but a knock came from the door, and both of us stopped and opened our eyes. I looked up at him and he looked down at me and we just stared at each other. His eyes were lidded and I wasn't even in the mood to try and convince myself that I didn't care about him. I knew my expression said as much, too.

"Yui…"

"We're going out!" Laito shouted from outside the door. "Take too long and I'll come in there and join you two!" And then he was gone. I could only just lay there and stare back at Ayato, and I got the strangest feeling…

I wanted him to kiss me.

I knew it would never happen. Vampires just didn't naturally do that. But… maybe if I asked… No. I couldn't do that, either. So I turned my head to the side and forced myself to look away from him. I closed my eyes, too. I wanted for Ayato to act a little human so badly, and I knew that it was selfish of me to think that way. And after talking to Subaru, I had even given up asking him out for dinner or something normal like that. So what was I supposed to do? Was it just this kind of weird stuff? Was this like a date to vampires? Teeth massages, or whatever this was even referred to as? It was just… normal people didn't do this stuff… It was weird…

"Have I upset you?"

I quickly open my eyes and shake my head. I don't want him to get the wrong idea, either.

"Did you enjoy that?"

I nodded.

"I'll meet you outside."

And then he was gone, too.

That was it. No talking. No kiss. Not even a hug. He wouldn't even hold me… I wasn't expecting this from myself, but I ended up curling into a ball on the bed and cradling myself with my knees against my chest. I still felt like a human. I still wanted that kind of comfort that vampires would never give me. Now it seemed like that perfect moment just now was so… lacking. It had seemed so meaningful before. Like Ayato and I had shared a special moment meant for two people who were more than just friends… But when it ended, I felt as if he didn't even care… Was that just my imagination? It felt like he was just in it for the pleasure and not for… _me_. And for some reason… I felt very _used_.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven:**

It was back to school for me the next day. Reiji gave me a stern talking to about keeping my fangs hidden, but he said it wasn't a huge deal if one person saw a glimpse. Nobody ever said anything anyway—they just figured it was some weird thing that vampires had done to themselves for fun or whatever. It was simple too—I just had to not open my mouth too wide, which I didn't even know why I would ever do that anyway. And the other thing was not to snarl, because apparently that happened sometimes. I couldn't see myself doing that either, so I didn't think they would be a problem. They were so small anyway. I could barely see them when I wanted to.

"Wait for me," Ayato said. I looked over at him, in nothing but his dark blue swimming trunks. I thought he said he was going to the bathroom or something, but I wasn't listening before. I was sitting on the edge of the pool, dipping my feet into the shallow end. I nodded at him and he walked off. The teacher had left the room over ten minutes ago, so everyone was already playing in the water.

"You're Yui?" a voice said from behind me and I looked around to found a short girl with large, round glasses looking over at me. She was in a dark red one-piece bathing suit that she wore like she was in a bra and miniskirt. She clearly didn't seem comfortable, but at the same time… there was something strange about her.

"Yes, I'm Yui."

"My name is Sona," she said softly. "I don't know if you noticed me before, but I'm new here and the other day… in the pool with Ereka… I'm sorry."

"Huh?" I tilted my head. "That's… That's all right." I didn't even see how that was her fault…

"It's just, I saw she was going to push you in and I wanted to shout out but I just… didn't." Sona looked at the ground and clasped her hands behind her back.

"Oh, that's fine." I have to put on a smile, even though this is a little weird. I don't want her to be self-conscious, especially since she seemed to be truly apologizing to me. She seemed sweet. "No harm done. I was fine."

"Oh…Okay. I just wanted to tell you."

"Yea, don't worry about it. No worries."

As she headed for the ladder to enter the pool with the others, I realized that there were a lot of new people here. I remembered Haru saying how a bunch of people just transferred from one specific school, which used to be his old one or something… I wished I could come here every night like a normal student, instead of just when the brothers allowed me to go. I probably would have known most of the new students that way. Now… every time I came here, surrounded by people, I felt so lonely.

"All right. Get in."

Ayato gave my back a shove and I almost slipped and went into the water. I grumbled and turned to give him a tiny death glare before gently sliding myself down the side wall and into the shallow end. Ayato jumped in right next to me, splashing my hair. I frowned at that.

"Ayato!" someone shrieked. I turned and there was Ereka. So much had happened since the last time I saw her that I almost forgot she was in this class with us. "Wasn't yesterday in health class sooooo much fun? We should do that every time we have a class together, don't you think?" She wore a huge, white-teethed smile and she walked one inch in front of me, trudging through the water. She stopped when she was standing next to me, her back facing me awkwardly like she wanted to be between me and the yellow-green-eyed vampire. I just rolled my eyes. She was still doing this? She was going to learn her lesson the hard way if she kept this up… Ayato was friendly for a whole different list of reasons than what she expected.

But at the same time, him being friendly towards her made me a little uncomfortable, as well.

"Yui…"

I turn and get distracted by Sona coming up to me again. I force a small smile and wave.

"Yui… would you mind being my partner for today? My friend is absent and I'm… well, I don't have any other friends…"

I take a quick glance back towards Ayato, and when I find him easily distracted by Ereka, I just nod at Sona. If he's going to be busy, then I might as well try to make a new friend. It's what I want, after all—to have some normal human interactions again, instead of just spending all my time with the vampire brothers. It was unnatural. And what was better, she was a girl. No more boy drama like Haru. There was no reason for Reiji or Ayato to be mad that I found a girlfriend.

The period went by quickly, and I learned a little bit about Sona. She mostly talked about her previous high school, so I got the same descriptions and some of the same stories that id already heard from Haru. But that didn't stop me from listening. I told her a little bit about myself, but obviously nothing too dramatic because she wouldn't understand.

I climbed out of the pool and Ayato threw me his towel.

"That's your usual partner?" Sona asked, and I nodded. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Uh… no, we're not… We're just friends."

I notice Ayato shoot me a look from across the room. Of course he could hear me, but what was I going to say? That he wanted to sleep with me so we could have a vampire bond and live happily ever after? Plus, Ereka was still following him around like a lost puppy. It was pathetic. She was getting on my nerves a little, too, now. Maybe I should try talking to her or something. I wondered how that would go… probably not well.

"Oh…" Sona trailed off. "Oh, I wanted to ask you something else. I know it might be a little weird, but I'm just curious… Where do you live?"

I paused, and then answered as best I could—the last thing I wanted was to tell her I live with a bunch of vampires… which to her would just be like living in a house with a bunch of boys. I gave her the address of the Sagamaki mansion and she looked at me, confused. I laughed. "Sorry, you're new around here, right? It's at the top of the big hill if you drive past the main road… Where you can always see the sunrise from?" Sona just shrugged and I laughed again. "Yea, sorry."

"Maybe I could come visit some time?"

And since I didn't want to be rude, I just nodded. Yea… like that would ever happen with six vampires living there with me. I wished…

I headed for the locker room to change back into my school uniform.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It seemed like Haru was completely ignoring me. It was a little awkward when I had to walk past him or look in his general direction, but it wasn't that bad. It was almost as if nothing had ever happened between us. I wondered why that was… Maybe the brothers scared him. Maybe he just wasn't that interested in being my friend anymore… That thought made me lower my head. The brothers had turned me into a human repellant. No one ever even talked to me anymore. I used to get "hi" and "how are you" from random people, but now the whole day was filled with silence. Unless one of the vampires was making a comment or something.

But then there was Sona… who seemed to be just as antisocial as I was. And it was nice when I talked to her earlier in the day. It almost made me feel like I could have a friend. She even seemed interested in me, seeing as she asked where I live and if Ayato and I were dating. She seemed just like a normal human girl. She reminded me of myself… before all this.

"Let's just go home tonight," Kanato whined.

"We weren't even planning on going anywhere," Reiji tsked, "Please keep better track of the days from now on."

Kanato pouted and snuggled Teddy.

We were all in the limo on the way back to the mansion. It had been a quiet ride so far, the only silence being a few grumbles and shuffling around. Ayato, who usually sat next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders to make me uncomfortable, was instead leaning away from me, towards the window, glancing outside like he was bored. I'd been thinking about what I wanted to do with him all night. I want to ask him out… but at the same time I don't, because why would he want that? He wouldn't. Not at all. But it was the only thing I knew when it came to furthering a relationship with someone. I just couldn't do this the vampire way.

Once we pulled up the long driveway and everyone dispersed, I sat in the limo alone for a minute. When I stepped out with my bag over one shoulder, the limo sped off again, not to be seen until tomorrow, as usual.

I stepped under the threshold and headed for my room. I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep unless I did something about this, so… against my better judgement. I placed my bag on the ground and stood up straight.

"Ayato…kun," I whispered. And then I waited.

It didn't take long—only about ten seconds—as expected. Ayato appeared in my room, without even opening the door. Or, he opened and closed it so fast I couldn't see. Either way, there he was, staring at me like he expected something. Which I guess was the right response, seeing as I called him here.

"What, Pancake?" he asked, when I ended up just staring at him. His arms were crossed and he leaned against the far wall. And I had no idea how to ask him, so I just blurted it out without thinking.

"Would you like to go see a movie or something with me?"

"Why?"

I paused, expecting a different reaction from him from my outburst. But he tilted his head, seeming genuinely confused by my question.

"Well… I mean… If there's something else you'd rather do…"

"You already know what I want to do."

I flush bright red. "Th-That's not…"

"It's not what?"

"It's not… appropriate."

This wasn't going the way I had hoped…

"To you, maybe."

"And you don't care what I think about it?" I ask, a little hurt.

"I think your view on our lifestyle here with you is skewed because of your past. And I know you don't fully understand the position we're all in… which is fine, but… you're going to have to accept it eventually… or not. At least come to a decision instead of being so… _human_."

"It's… it's just how I am… That's why I thought… if you wanted to see a movie—"

"—Why do you keep asking that?"

"What?"

"What does that have to do with anything? And have you even seen a television in this entire house? It's because we don't care for petty human entertainment. We have much better ways to entertain ourselves." He smirked and looked me up and down.

I was about to respond when a knock came from the door, and before I could say anything, it opened and Reiji stood outside. I just blinked a few times, not expecting him.

"I couldn't help but overhear the two of you in here," he said, and then turned to Ayato. "Your ignorance amazes me sometimes." Ayato hissed, but it was ignored. "Humans bond with each other through mating, yes… but Yui is suggesting that you spend time with her, since humans bond via familiarity, too."

"She's already familiar with me," Ayato sneered.

"You really don't understand?" Reiji asked, and it looked like he was about to say something more, but he just nodded once at me and then closed the door and left again. I glanced at Ayato, who now seemed a little angry.

"What?" he snapped at me.

"I… I didn't say anything…"

And then there was silence for a bit before Ayato shuffled where he stood. Was he getting uncomfortable…? What Reiji said made it seem like Ayato didn't understand the concept of dating… But was that really true? Didn't he talk about that before, though?

"Ayato-kun…"

"What is it?"

"I…" I trialed off, but then found a bit of courage. "I want to… be closer to you."

"You want to mate?" He looked up.

"I… want you to be considerate of… how I feel."

"You're not making any sense, Pancake. Do you want to mate or not?"

"I want to go see a movie with you…" He lifted an eyebrow, but I continued. "Or have dinner, or… something… anything."

"So you can fulfill your human desires?"

"Does it bother you that the answer is yes?"

"I think it's strange." He paused. "I won't act like a human. I won't do those things. Just allow me to bond with you."

"You do understand what you're asking, right? Don't you know that for me, that's strange, too?"

"It shouldn't be."

I frowned. "Fine."

"What?"

More silence came between us, and I instantly regretted saying that. What was I thinking? I can't… not now… not with Ayato… not here… not… just… no…

"I can bond with you?"

"No."

"Then what did you mean?"

Silence erupted again and Ayato snarled. I jumped at the noise and realized he was getting closer to me, but he sounded angry.

"Why not?" he growled. "You're mine. Or did you forget that already? I can do with you what I please. You belong to me."

"You wouldn't…" I gulped. "Force me…"

"And what if I did?"

I gulped again.

"Reiji said… you wouldn't want that… if I didn't want you to, it would be…"

"Unpleasant? True… But at least I would be bonded. Not being mated to you at this point is unpleasant anyway… And… I'm sure I could make you change your mind halfway through."

I couldn't stop swallowing. Saliva kept dripping into my mouth like I was hungry, but I just kept swallowing and gulping. I was nervous and I couldn't stop it. Ayato was intimidating when he was demanding.

"Yui…" he said, and his voice was quieter. "Like that." He closed his eyes. "I can feel your anxiety and I shouldn't be able to. This is like being half-bonded. It's torture, especially since you took my blood. Why won't you just let me do this? I can feel you when I shouldn't. I can feel you in a way that makes me uneasy. Even when you're happy or sad, I feel… itchy. Dry. Dirty. Like I would if I was bonded and you were in pain. It's constant. It won't stop. Just… let me stop it."

And then he stepped forward until he was right in front of me. "You'll enjoy having a mate, I promise you. There isn't a female in the world who would turn down an offer to be taken care of. You have no one else. Why do you insist on refusing me? Or refusing any of us? We are literally offering our lives to you and you refuse? I don't understand you…"

"Is it… really that bad for you?"

"It's like… walking into cobwebs. There's something there—your bond to me—but unless I'm bonded back… I can't see what's in my face, bothering me."

"And what happens to that when you… bond?"

"I've only heard what happens when you bond, and if this is considered a form of half-bonding, then it's as if I've tried mating with you and you wouldn't have me…" He trailed off for a moment. What was half-bonding, anyway? "It's unpleasant for a male if they try and force a female to bond, so then the male becomes bonded, and the female does not. It's never happened the other way around. And when that happens, it's like punishment for what the male has done… This feels like punishment to me. When both male and female are bonded, it's a mutual bond, so the benefits are…"

"Are what?"

"I've never been bonded before, and I've heard very little about it. Of course, the male becomes protective, feeding becomes more insistent, and emotions are slightly shared, primarily for keeping the female safe and away from other, unwanted males. It's just a bond… but we all seek it. It's in our nature as male vampires."

"If I say yes… I don't want children."

"I know."

"Are you… really in pain?"

"Discomfort, more like."

"And you'll be like that until…?"

"Forever, unless I bond with you."

"What if you bond to someone else?"

"If this is anything like half-bonding, then it would be impossible to bond to anyone else anymore."

"What if I was… dead?"

"It would be… very painful."

"But could you bond with someone else then?"

"It's impossible to bond with anyone if you're half-bonded to another."

"I still don't understand what you mean by that."

"Half-bonding is… generally, punishment for rape… It's why females are usually dominant in our species. A male can't just have a female. If she doesn't want to be bonded or for the male to bond with her, she can choose not to have him. And then the male becomes half-bonded, for trying to force himself on a female."

"How is that anything like this?"

"It seems like the same symptoms that I'm having. And it's almost the same, just you're the one who's bonded and I'm the one who's not. It's ironic that even when the female has bonded without the male's consent, the male is still the one who suffers…"

Ayato looked away from me. He was suffering…? And he would continue to suffer…? I already knew I wanted this with him, but was it selfish of me to wait for this? I expected to mate with him in the future, but I wanted to do other things before that happened… I was being selfish…

"Ayato."

He slowly looked up and met my eyes. His truly were beautiful…

"I want you to bond to me."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight:**

His shirt was immediately thrown to the floor, and just those words made his eyes go wild. He was already advancing on me with the intention of doing exactly what I just asked for.

"W-Wait," I suddenly blurted out, just as he was reaching for me. He paused and snarled.

"This is getting old," he growled. "Decide. Now, Pancake. I won't be toyed with like this."

"I just… Please don't hurt me…" And I felt like I was about to cry, but Ayato's expression became understanding, much to my surprise, and he continued reaching for me. When his hands met my shoulders, I flinched, but he just left them there and stared at my face. I looked back for only a moment before getting embarrassed and looking back down at the carpet.

"Whatever you want from me, I'll give," he whispered, and then leaned forward, running the tips of his fangs against the top of my collarbones. His other hand came up and he pushed a thumb between my lips and pushed against my one fang. My mouth involuntarily opened and I let out a quiet moan. I loved this sensation. "Just try not to take so much blood that I can't move," he added with a chuckle.

Was I really doing this? Was I really ready to give away my body to Ayato… of all people…?

"Ayato…" I whispered, and he grunted in reply. "I'm scared…"

"I'll make it quick," he said, "We can have fun _next_ time." And then he pulled away from my neck and smirked at me. Then his smirk turned into a genuine smile. "Don't be scared, Yui. I'll take care of you."

He bent down and lifted both my legs around his waist and walked us over to my vanity. With a single swipe of his arm, he knocked everything off onto the floor and sat my bottom down on the newly opened space. I had to lean back against the mirror for support as I felt something strange in my stomach—like butterflies, but on something.

I jumped when it felt like I was sweating between my legs and I tried to close them together, but Ayato was between them. His teeth kept running over each part of my neck, scraping every part of my skin. I kept expecting him to kiss me, but he never did.

His palms suddenly pushed down hard on either of my thighs, holding me in place. A needy sound came out of my mouth but I wasn't sure what it was. My hands were still at my sides, my palms pushing harder and harder onto the wood surface of the vanity, but I wanted to move them. My eyes were squeezed shut but I already knew he had his shirt off. Of course, it wasn't something knew—I saw his chest every time we had class in the pool—but this made me feel a little different. I was never going to be able to look at him in the pool in the same way again.

I gasped and my eyes opened wide when I felt a hand cup my breast. I could feel his prodding through my shirt and even my bra. I could feel each of his fingertips giving me a sensual massage. It felt slightly wrong because I would have never expected to be doing this before getting to know someone for at least a year—it was just the way I was raised. I'd never thought that I would feel like I needed something like this as badly as I needed my next breath. I felt like it was something I couldn't control, especially not now.

Ayato's face suddenly came up to eye level with me and his lips grazed mine. I jumped and prepared to kiss him, but instead he bit down on my bottom lip, and when I parted my lips in surprise, he sucked my tongue into his mouth and grazed his fangs against that, too. I just wanted him to kiss me—passionately, like I used to watch in movies. But this was a different kind of passion. This was wild and hungry and… animalistic—passion in the eyes of a vampire.

And yet I still wanted to hold onto some of my humanity, so I dared to lift one hand and bring it between the thick hairs on the back of his head. I gently pulled him forward and I tried to kiss him through the grip he had on my tongue and the little blood dripping down my chin. I just put my lips on his and kissed him. Instead of having a reaction, he just ignored it and continued what he'd been doing.

"Ayato," I whispered around my tongue, and he let go, baring his fangs at me as he waited. I didn't know what to say, though. I felt like asking him to kiss me would just make him laugh, and I was no expert, so how could I make him want to do it. I ran my tongue over my upper lip, slowly, and he watched my mouth with interest. I pulled my tongue back and ran them over one of my fangs and shivered—and it hit me. I instantly moved forward and pressed my lips against his. He parted his lips in reply and I stuck my tongue into his mouth, aiming for the tip of his left fang. I felt his body jerk and he moaned breathily, his cool breath hitting me right in the face. It was refreshing, and it smelled like a mix of him and my blood.

Ayato seemed to have had enough of my shirt, and he was already reaching for the hem, and sliding his hand upward. When I felt the rough patch of skin at the tip of his finger hit my bare skin there I yelped, our mouths parting.

A sudden knock at my bedroom door made me jump, but I heard a light snarl come from the yellow-green-eyed vampire. He wrapped his other arm around me and pulled me flush against him until my breasts were being squashed between us and his hand. Then he turned towards the door.

"Go the fuck away!" he snarled at whoever it was.

A smothered laugh was all I heard, and I could only picture Laito for a second before Ayato was using his teeth again, this time reaching to scratch the side of my neck, and sometimes catching parts of my hair and tugging on the small knots. Then he grabbed my wrists and pushed my hands over my head, tugging on the bottom of my shirt. I don't know why I expected him to ask if he could take it off of me, but he didn't and I frowned a bit as he tossed my shirt to the floor. He then reached for my pants and undid the one button before tugging them off from the bottom, leaving me in only my bra and panties, both an off-white color with no design and no lace. I felt so plain, and at the same time I felt a little… slutty. Both in a good way and a bad way. Even though I'd never done something like this before, it was reassuring to see Ayato so enthusiastic about this. But on the other hand, it still felt wrong. I wasn't even eighteen yet, and I knew most girls my age didn't care about such things, but it still bothered me a little.

"Ayato," I breathed.

"Mmm?"

"I… I'm still scared…" He paused and released my wrists immediately. "I'm sorry," I said shyly, unable to look up at him. I was trembling, but I wasn't sure what it was from. I just wanted a little bit of a break, and I wasn't sure if that made me a bad person. I certainly felt like it. I had to break the silence. "So… you've never done this either?" I asked, even though I knew it was a stupid question, because of the whole bonding thing. Although, if he was a human, I would have never guessed it was his first time from his confidence alone.

He lifted an eyebrow at me and then grabbed my legs again, pulling me towards him. He pushed his hips into me and my eyes widened at what I felt.

"I'm not going to stop," he said simply, grinding himself against me. My breathing was ragged and I just nodded once at him. But then he sighed and lifted me up. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he walked us to the bed and tossed me down, on top of the sheets and blanket. He then walked over and switched off the light, bathing the room in a soft moonlit glow. I was hard to see anything clearly and it calmed me a little.

"Thank you," I whispered when I felt him crawl onto the bed beside me. I felt his leg hit mine and I realized it was bare skin. He must have taken off his pants, too. I was almost naked with a boy in my bed… Well, I was almost naked with a vampire.

For a few moments, he just laid there next to me, his cool breath wafting gently over my neck and face.

"Oi," he finally said, his hand moving to rest on my bare shoulder. He flipped it over and caressed up and down my arm with the back of his hand. In the dark and the silence I could hear my heartbeat pounding against my chest, loud and clear. "Let me take care of you."

Why did he keep saying that? It was just another way—a nicer way—of asking me if I still want to do this. Of course I did, but I still wanted him to know that I was scared. It shouldn't have been a shock to him that I was scared of him hurting me. It wasn't like he'd never done it before—emotionally and physically.

When my answer wasn't "no," Ayato squirmed around a bit before I could feel his body heat hovering over the side of me. I felt one of his hands grip my breast again and I jumped. If he wasn't above me I swear I would have shot through the ceiling. He trailed his hand down and pressed his palm flat against my stomach. I could feel my heart rate increasing dramatically as he moved down the side of my hip and turned around just before my knee. His hand moved to the inside of my leg and he began to climb upward.

My breathing became ragged and I literally felt like I was about to cry. I was scared. I couldn't help it. It wasn't that I didn't trust him not to hurt me, because we were beyond that. I just felt like I didn't know what was going to happen to me once this was over. I didn't even know what was going to happen during it. My mother died when I was young, and my father never taught me anything about this. And I was scared because I was forced to put all my faith into Ayato right now. I had to trust him with everything I had and I wasn't sure I could do that.

A quiet noise rumbled my body and my eyes opened slightly. I realized that Ayato's hand had stopped moving up and his face was beside mine, his mouth next to my ear. And the rumbling noise was a purring sound. And it was slightly calming.

"I can feel you," he whispered and his voice was sad. "Don't be so scared… Not of me. Please."

"I don't… I don't know what to do now…" I replied, and my voice was a little hoarse, and louder than I would've liked.

"Just let me take care of you…"

Again with that?

His hand resumed the climb and the tingling sensation down below was getting worse. I had to force myself not to squirm and to stay still. But then Ayato chuckled and I opened one eye to try and see his face through the dark. It was a bit easier now and the moonlight was brighter, so I could see the bright whites of his eyes and the sparkle they held when he laughed or smiled.

"What?" I breathed.

"Do what you want," he said, and I could see the white fangs between his teeth, too. "You want to move?" he asked, and then his fingers did a little dance on the inside of my upper thigh and I squirmed in reaction. "Then move," he smirked.

Ayato bent his head down next to mine and bit my ear lobe, and then the purring sound continued. His hand was almost at the top and my breathing was irregular. But then he gently traced the outside of my panties with the tips of his short fingernails and a big part of me just didn't care anymore. What I thought had been me sweating between my legs felt like it just caught on fire and I realized my mistake.

I gasped, and he nuzzled me, continuing that relaxing purring noise. He stopped only to groan when his fingers tapped the outside of my underwear. His head bent so that he could bury his face in my neck, and I suddenly wondered if I did something wrong. My eyes opened and I stared at the ceiling for a moment.

And then he moved his fingers. I yelped and grabbed his shoulders, my eyes wide in shock. He slipped past my underwear and into me and I lay there, rigid—wanting to move but afraid of what might happen if I did. Ayato's breathing was hard and erratic, but certainly not as bad as mine. It felt like fireworks were going off inside my body. His heavy breaths tickled the skin on my neck and his fangs kept gripping my earlobe and then letting go, over and over. My nails dug into his skin but I couldn't help it, especially when he moved his fingers in one "come hither" motion, grating slightly against something that sent my body into near convulsions.

I couldn't help the sounds that were coming out of my mouth.

"Lift," he breathed, and I opened one eye. His body was barely an inch from mine, hovering over me. He slipped his fingers out and I gasped again. "Lift," he repeated, tugging on my underwear, and I understood. He pulled off my panties and I let my bare bottom hit the sheets underneath us. "This, too," he muttered, lightly snapping back one of the straps on my bra. He bent his head down and tore the front with one quick bite.

"Hey," I said, a little upset, but not having it in me to care too much. He slid the straps off my shoulders and threw the ripped mess to the floor with the rest of our clothes.

It suddenly dawned on me that we were both naked and I got even more nervous. Of course, he could tell, and that same purr came from his throat again. He leaned down and raked his tongue from my belly button to the dip at the bottom of my neck and I shivered. His trail of saliva left me cold where it hit me.

And then there was a pause. I knew he was looking at me for some kind of acknowledgement, but I couldn't look him in the eyes. I was still scared, but mostly now because of the unknown. I had no idea what to expect or what this was going to do to me… Would it hurt? Would it be Ayato's fault? Or what if there was just something wrong with me? I didn't know what I was supposed to do either—

"Yui, I'll take care of you."

He took both my legs and separated them, making me want to cover my face with my hands and suddenly I felt something hot and hard between my legs. I waited for something to happen, but what seemed like a long time passed and I opened my eyes. He was just staring at me, patiently—the question in his eyes was unmistakable. He didn't have to ask it aloud. And even though I had no idea what I was doing, or what would happen, I knew my answer. I nodded at him.

His mouth opened and a hard exhale came out just before he began to guide himself inside me. He slowly pressed the rest of the way, pausing a few times—probably to check if I was okay—until I was full. Completely full of Ayato. And much to my surprise and happiness, nothing had hurt. He was slow and gentle. He was taking care of me…

Then I felt the strangest sensation. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him down so our chests touched. For just a moment I needed to hold him. I wanted to feel his breathing against me. I wanted him to feel my heartbeat, if I even had one anymore. I felt like crying again, but this time out of happiness, not worry. But before I could make him think I didn't want to do this anymore, I lifted my head and whispered in his ear. "Bond to me."

I felt like I just erased any misconceptions Ayato might have had. He immediately grabbed my hips with both of his hands and let out a snarl before pumping in and out of me. I felt a building spiral in my lower stomach and decided to embrace it instead of shying away. Ayato seemed to be surrendering himself as well. I had to watch his face for a moment, but then I realized that something wasn't right. I was abandoning all negative thoughts, but his face was changing. Was he in pain?

"Ayato?" I moaned, trying to get his name out, but not being able to speak clearly.

"I'm fine," he grunted, and then lowered his head, resting his forehead beside me face, pressed into the pillow. I could hear his ragged breathing as his hips moved. He hit something in me that made me gasp, and he must have realized it because he did it again. And again. My nails dug into his skin once more, scraping relentlessly against his back and shoulders as I moaned.

And then I felt it. My body went off and I cried out. Ayato lifted his head and looked right into my eyes as my whole body tightened and I screamed. He gritted his teeth and cried out after me and I felt something warm erupt between my legs. His mouth opened and he gasped as I started to calm down. His eyes widened as he stared at me and I suddenly wanted him to kiss me again—more so than before. It was more than want. It was a need. I stared at his mouth for only a second.

"Yes," he breathed, and then his lips hit mine.

His kiss was slow but passionate, even for a post-human like me. Without warning, I locked my lips against his and threw away the key. The tip of my tongue swiped across his bottom lip and I soon realized that he was very unprepared for this. I was making him moan, and I could feel my own power. It felt good.

His lips parted as he breathed in and I took it as an open invitation to explore his mouth. I encouraged him to use his tongue by tapping it with mine until he did as I asked. But the gentleness he used was much different than how he would bite me. This felt like I was lighter than the air itself. It felt like I was melting into the bed, instead of skyrocketing through the roof. After a little while, we parted.

"I… I don't know why I did that," Ayato suddenly said, scrunching his eyebrows and looking away. Was he embarrassed? From just a kiss? And after everything else he'd done, that was what made him uncomfortable?

"I was nice," I replied with a light smile.

He let out a long exhale and the cool air against my skin reminded me that we were still both naked on the bed. It didn't bother me as much as before, but it still felt a bit awkward.

"I can feel you," he said with wonder. "I can feel your heartbeat and your temperature and…" He paused and frowned, and then looked at me. "You're hungry." He immediately rolled off the bed and I caught a teasing glimpse of his backside before he quickly pulled his pants back on, ignoring his boxer briefs. He turned around with a smirk. "I felt that, too, Pancake." And then he just stood there, half naked, staring at me with that smirk. "This is kind of cool." He walked to the door and opened it. Standing in the doorway, he half-turned back to me with his eyes closed. His smirk came back pretty fast. "Between the leftover chicken and some fried eggs…" He paused. "Yea, that's what I thought. I'll just throw it in the microwave for a minute. If you need me… just think of me."

And then he was gone.

Great. Now he could read my mind.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine:**

I hadn't actually thought about what to expect after being bonded to by a vampire. I supposed it just meant that we were dating, in the human sense of things. Which I guess meant that we were together, and we slept together… But other than that, I had no idea what else was supposed to change. I had feelings for Ayato—at least that much I was certain about. But did that mean that I was in love with him? I cared deeply for him, but I didn't know what it felt like to be in love with someone, so how was I supposed to know? On the other hand, now that he was bonded, did that mean that he was in love with me? I assumed the answer to that was no, because of the explanations I'd already gotten from Reiji about the whole process. So… pretty much, Ayato just had a strong desire to have children with me, and he was connected to me in ways that I couldn't even fathom. Some of which included mental and emotional connection that I hadn't been ready for.

After he bonded, he'd gotten me food and taken care of me, and every single one of my desires, without me having to say a single word, he knew them all. And he made me happy with a smile on his face. I almost felt bad… as if he was being forced to do things that he wouldn't normally do. So, I wasn't sure how to take all of this.

It was back to school the following Monday, and I knew that things were different now. The first clue was that I hadn't seen much of the other brothers since I slept with Ayato. I wasn't sure if I was being avoided or… if it was something else. But I didn't like it. Something inside me was changing. Ever since my fangs came in, for some reason, the brothers had become more desirable to me. Almost as if my body now recognized that I wanted to be with a vampire instead of a human… Like my body realized that I should be with my own kind. It was only weird because I felt like a vampire now, but I didn't feel like I wasn't human at the same time. It was… weird.

Ereka was the same as always—eager to try and get Ayato's attention. And even though we were bonded now, he still acted the same around her. There were no boyfriend comments or set boundaries for our relationship. It was... nothing.

But it wasn't like I could just tell her that we were going out now. First of all, because I wasn't sure if that's what I should be calling this. And another reason was because everyone here was human, and I was starting to feel like a vampire. I was thinking about taboo things, like Subaru and Shuu… If I told Ereka that Ayato and I were going out, and then I bonded to Subaru, or any more of the brothers, then that was taboo here. And I didn't want to start gathering labels for myself. Even because Haru was still watching me sometimes. I didn't want anyone to know about this, really. But at the same time, I didn't appreciate the manicured hand that was now on Ayato's upper arm, bare and in the water. I walked over and prepared to get into the pool with everyone.

"Don't be like that," Ayato said when I slid into the water in the shallow end. He waded over to me and leaned down to put his face less than a few inches from mine and I flushed, freezing up. He smirked for a split second before his tongue darted out of his mouth and he licked from my chin to halfway up my nose. I yelped and jumped backwards, falling into the water and swallowing a mouthful before standing up and coughing. He was snickering to himself and I realized that we were being watched, and a few of the human girls looked shocked. I pursed my lips and looked down, embarrassed and ma—

"—You're mad..."

"You're so observant," I grunted, crossing my arms. My face was probably bright red by now.

He lifted one eyebrow. "Come on. You really need to learn how to swim. It's important for your safety."

I shook my head at him in shock. "What? You think I haven't been taking this seriously? I know that I can't swim, Ayato. And I would really like to know how."

"It shouldn't have taken you this long..."

"Well maybe if my teacher wasn't flirting with the other girls in the pool..." I muttered.

"Girls?" he frowned.

"Yea, girls." I looked away from him.

"You really don't have to be like that," he smirked. "It's true they're females, but they're a different species," he laughed. "They're not mates, Pancake. They're prey. And it's all part of the game."

"Well, you can't go around school eating people, so stop."

"Stop what? Playing with my food or talking to human females? Hmm?"

I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I looked at him. "Are you enjoying this?"

"Clearly, you're not."

" _Clearly_."

"Yui!" a female voice called from behind me. I took a quick breath and turned to find Sona. I heard Ayato grunt and a few splashes made me think he was swimming away or something. I mentally frowned but kept my composure as Sona caught up to me. "I thought I was going to miss you before class ended," she smiled. "You seem awfully friendly with Ayato this morning."

I couldn't help a faint blush, but I just shook my head. "Still just friends, Sona," I forced a small smile.

For a split second, Sona froze n panic, and I blinked a few times at her, confused. But as quickly as it came, it faded, and she was back to normal. It must have just been my imagination... "I'm just saying it looks different from an outside perspective… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up again." She immediately looked down.

"It's fine, really. He's more like a brother to me." Saying those kinds of things after he'd bonded to me felt so weird. I knew that we were more than friends, and I was pretty sure that I loved him… And yet I just said that he was like my brother. It almost made me sick, like even being close to Ayato was taboo at this point. For a split second, I felt a dying urge to run away from all this. I panicked for a split second before I came back down from my high. Sona didn't seem to notice anything different. She wore her same shy smile.

"Are you all right?"

Ayato wasn't beside me, but he was a few yards away, floating in the deep end, watching me. I looked over and just nodded once as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. I knew he could feel what I felt, too. I felt like I couldn't even be myself anymore. If I was nervous or upset or afraid, I didn't want him to know all the time. For starters, it could get annoying. But I knew the real reason was that I didn't want him to realize just how weak I was. I put up a good front, but inside… I still felt human—emotionally, at the very least. And Ayato didn't want a human. He would have never been with me if I hadn't become a vampire. And with him feeling all of my human emotions… he was going to realize how human I still was, even after the transition. And it scared me that he would start to hate me for it. What if he thought I tricked him…? I wouldn't be able to deal with it if he, or any of the brothers hated me… I didn't want them to hate me…

"Oi…"

A hand was on my shoulder in another second, and Sona was looking up at Ayato, behind me, with wide eyes again. I didn't want to look at him. I knew that he was responding to what I was feeling, and he probably didn't want to. How long until he realized that I wasn't what he thought I was? How long until he hated me?

"Yui…" He pushed on my shoulders, turning me to face him. I was numbly aware that Sona was still watching us. So were many others. Ayato closed his eyes and leaned his head forward, gently placing his forehead to mine and breathing slowly. "What has you so afraid? Tell me." I couldn't answer him, and I pursed my lips. "You don't have to be afraid when I'm here."

"And what about when you're not?" I whispered, and then instantly regretting it. I didn't mean to let it slip out. But the silence lasted too long and I looked up at him. His eyes were still closed, but he finally spoke.

"If you never want me to leave, then I won't."

I wanted to continue this. I so badly wanted to tell him what I was afraid of and that I loved him and… But I couldn't think straight. We couldn't have a moment like this in school, not in front of all these people. I couldn't… my mind just wouldn't let me. I could feel every gaze on me, heating me up in ways I didn't appreciate.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, pushing him back. "I need to try and focus on controlling how I feel so I don't bother you anymore."

"W… What?" He looked baffled as I pushed until he took a step back. "Why would you…? That's…" And then he looked at me angrily and snarled under his breath. "If you didn't want this, you shouldn't have asked me to bond."

And my hopes of hiding things shattered. I felt his words like an arrow through my chest, and as it hit me, I could have swore I saw him wince.

"There," he spat under his breath. "Now we'll _both_ suffer."

He immediately jumped over the edge of the pool with grace and grabbed a dark blue towel hanging off a handrail along the wall. He didn't even look back. He was the only person in the room who wasn't staring at me.

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I regretted a lot. I felt regret like it was going to last forever and I was just going to have to bear with it until the day I died. But… thankfully, I didn't regret last night. I regretted saying what I said to Ayato. I regretted the way I acted in front of everyone during first period—who now have probably told the rest of the school. And now, I was regretting the feelings that I knew I was developing for some of the other brothers.

A part of me felt like I had to be sick, or that I needed therapy or something. After, all, that was a little twisted, right? To not only want more than one man, but to want them all at the same time and want them all to be okay with it. That was how you hurt people. That wasn't a way to live your life… But those were all rules for humans and… it felt right. I was confused, and Ayato was pissed. All day, even when I felt pain and sadness and regret, he never came to me. Even when he felt my emotional distress, he hadn't come to me since first period, and I felt alone, now, too.

But I knew that Subaru was willing to talk to me about this before, and I would see him sooner or later, considering that the day was almost over. I figured I'd just wait until I was alone in my room to call for him, but on the other hand, I had a feeling that calling for him at school was less likely to draw the attention of the other brothers. And my own sense of dread and desperation were my downfall. Right before lunch, standing outside the cafeteria, I buried my head in my hands before whispering, hoping that none of the others would hear me.

"Subaru…?"

"What's wrong?"

I jumped, lifting my head up and staring wide-eyed at him for a moment. That was too fast. He looked worried, too… I kinda felt bad about calling him like this. From his point of view, it must have seemed a lot worse than what I was making it out to be… I suddenly felt like a stupid child. I stared at the ground in embarrassment.

"Yui?" He paused, and I knew he was looking me up and down, but I heard him inhale a few times and then stop breathing altogether. I looked up then. "You… Ayato's scent is all over you..." I watched him turn a little red and look away. At first, I didn't realize what he meant, and then I looked away, too.

"I… I thought you all knew already..." Well, this was awkward…

"No, I… I went out last night..."

"Oh..."

The silence was getting worse, and I had to do something about it, but I had no idea what could make this better. Fortunately, he broke the silence instead of just walking away, which would have been ten times easier for both of us.

"What did you call me for? Where's Ayato?"

"He's… uhm… mad at me."

"Already?" Subaru smirked, and I didn't know how, but I seemed to have made a joke that lightened the mood a bit without even realizing it. But the silence was creeping back in, so I quickly tried to answer his question.

"I wanted to talk to you about…" I trailed off. "… about something." He lifted an eyebrow and I really had no choice at this point. "Can you help me understand… uhm… Well… this is hard for me to explain…" He waited patiently, but I was flustered. "I just… don't know why vampires think it's okay to mate with more than one person."

"It's not okay," he answered quickly, seriously. "No one is allowed to, even if we wanted to. Our bodies would reject it. That's normal. Humans are disgusting because their bodies don't stop them when they… what's that word? Cheat? Humans can do as they please, and many of them even believe it's okay. Our kind is more civilized, in that sense. We can only have one mate."

He was describing the males… He wasn't understanding my question… Although, I wasn't wording it properly to save myself from some embarrassment… But it would be easier to just be truthful.

"But Ayato wouldn't have a problem if I… if… if _we_ …?"

His face flashed with understanding and I dropped my gaze to the ground. I felt like such a bad person for asking, even thought it was normal, apparently. Subaru took a small step forward, making me jump. I watched his hand as he raised it and gently placed the back of it on my cheek, tilting his head to look at me. I couldn't help but blush.

"What are you asking me, Yui?" he whispered. His eyes were lidded and his voice was pure and gentle. And I remembered why I'd been drawn to him from the very beginning—it was that gentleness. He was so rough and violent, from the first time I saw him, and how he acted with everyone around him. He was hostile and uptight and angry all the time… except when he was with me… He treated me with such kindness, even in the beginning. He offered me an escape—a way out—when I first came to the mansion. He gave me his knife, knowing that I could have killed him with it, just so I would have protection if one of his brothers, or even if he tried to hurt me.

He was the only brother who showed me true kindness, even when I wasn't a vampire. And for that, I couldn't help but love him even more now. He was the one who cared about me when I was still human...

But now I was faced with a very difficult choice. If it was easy, I would have told him right then and there to bond to me, but it wasn't as simple as that. It was still sex—which I couldn't just throw around like it meant nothing to me. In fact, it meant everything to me. I slept with Ayato because I loved him. But there was a part of me that knew that I was coerced into it a little from the fact that he said he was in pain from the symptoms of half-bonding. I didn't regret it, but that was just another thought plaguing my brain recently.

But Subaru… With him, it was different. And it was a lot stronger than before when he came to my bedroom. Back then, I was unsure and scared, but now… Stronger than my physical attraction to Ayato, I was getting that same butterfly sensation just by looking into his eyes. I didn't have to feel something between my legs to go numb and weak and wanting. And maybe it was because he treated me so gently compared to everything else… but I wanted… I wanted to be rough with him. I wanted to push him to be a little rough with me. Just that thought alone made me wet and I shivered once before composing myself. And a part of me knew I would have never thought these things if I was still human. This desire was animalistic… in the sense of how I always viewed the brothers. I always thought that vampires were like this in nature… like me now. This sense of pure wanting. Biting. Dominating. Preying. It was twisted, but it felt… _amazing_.

Subaru was catching on, but slowly. Ayato had been much faster, probably because I'd taken his blood previously. But I couldn't take it anymore, and I'd already made up my mind.

"Will you meet me in my room tonight… after school… but wait a few hours, okay?" I whispered, unable to hide the desire in my tone.

His response was the baring of his fangs. It wasn't threatening at all, but almost erotic. I didn't know how I figured that, but the way he looked at me and showed his sharp teeth seemed private to me, like he wouldn't do it to anyone else. And before he closed his lips, his tongue swiped over his bottom lip and he shut his mouth as he slowly drew his tongue back. How strange that something so odd could make me have butterflies in my lower stomach. I wanted him now, but it wasn't the right time. And he stood there as if he was waiting for me to change my mind. And it was driving me crazy, probably because he knew that if he stood there long enough, he would make me.

"Subaru…" I breathed.

"Yes?" he breathed back.

"I'm still… going to want to talk about this."

"We'll talk after," he ordered, and for once I was glad he was being forceful with me. It made the butterflies flap their wings harder and faster, and I really needed to get away from him now. So, I just nodded and walked right past him, heading for no place in particular, impatiently waiting to see him again.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten:**

The day dragged, and I didn't see any of the brothers since I'd called Subaru during lunch period. Although, I never understood why they had a lunch period for night school. It was more like a midnight snack period, but I guess they had to call it something…

I was relieved when the wait was finally over, but as soon as I stepped out of the school, and realized that I now had to get in the limo with all of the brothers, my heart skipped a beat or two. I was beyond nervous. First of all, Ayato would be in there, and he was probably still mad at me. On the other side of the coin, I wasn't sure if I should tell him about Subaru. Did he need to know? Would he want to know? Another problem was something that just came up: Subaru said that Ayato's scent was on me… And if he didn't know what happened last night, then who else was about to find out in the back of the limo? I could barely take the embarrassment and I hadn't even seen any of the Sakamakis yet.

I tightened my grip on my book bag's shoulder strap and walked straight at the long, black car, feigning a no-fear expression. I thought I was doing a good job until I grabbed the door handle and paused. I took a quick breath and opened it.

Before I averted my eyes to the ground, I noticed Laito, Reiji and Kanato. The others weren't here yet, and I was thankful for that. At least, I was thankful until I got in my usual seat and realized that now I would have to watch them come in here.

As if on cue, the door opened and I jumped. I heard Laito laugh a little at me, and I was relieved once again, to see a familiar puff of light orange hair. Shuu looked as bored as always, but strangely enough, he walked past his usual seat and took the empty spot to my left—usually reserved for Ayato. I frowned for only a second, but then decided that Ayato not being able to sit next to me might be a blessing.

"Bitch-chan. You seem nervous. What's wrong?"

Laito leaned forward, placing his hands on his knees for support and stretching his neck. I recoiled a little from him—I wasn't in the mood for his games. He tilted his head and smirked. "Everyone already knows..." he whispered, loud enough for everyone in the limo to hear him. I blushed and looked away. "Ooh, I'm so excited. Can I be next?"

"I think we already know who's going to be next,"" Reiji spat, looking out the window and fixing his glasses. Laito smirked devilishly at the older brother.

"Well, I guess that checks you off the list, bookworm… Again." He looked back over at me and winked. "Well? Who is it then?" I saw his eyes wander to Shuu sitting next to me, and I was about to shake my head when the door opened once again. Ayato strolled in and my eyes widened before my gaze hit the floor between my feet.

"Aww, she's shaking… Ayato, were you too rough with her last night? You know I'd be gentler, Bitch-chan… don't you?" Laito cooed, and I felt like crying. Why were they making fun of me like this? Did he not care about how I felt? If he cared so much about me, as all the brothers said they did, then why do this to me? I didn't understand…

"Shut up, pervert." Ayato smacked his blood-brother on the side of his head before taking the seat on the other side of me, which was usually just left open. He didn't even seem to notice that Shuu was sitting beside me. Or maybe he didn't care. But before I had another second to think, his head hit my lap and I jumped, my hands shooting up to my chest. But in that long moment, I was calm.

Unfortunately, I couldn't help myself. He was pissed at me all day and because of that I literally had one of the worst days of my life. And now… he thought he could just come to me and use me as a pillow? What was his problem? But I was never very good at being mad…

"At least apologize," I whispered under my breath. It was all I could muster, even if I was still mad at him.

Laito started laughing and even Kanato giggled a bit. Reiji just shook his head, still looking out the window, into the dark. If vampires could see in the dark, then that was an ability I hadn't gotten yet. I couldn't see anything out the window. I wish I could, just to have some kind of distraction.

Ayato never apologized, and if he was about to, he was cut off by Subaru entering the limo and slamming the door shut behind him. I was going to say hello, but he completely ignored me and sat in the seat opposite me, next to Reiji. It was the farthest he could have been from me, and I had the feeling he did it on purpose.

A part of me was grateful that he wasn't going to make it a big deal, or that he wasn't going to make a scene in front of the others. But on the other side of things, it hurt a little that he didn't even look at me. Maybe he just wanted to bond, and that was it. I wondered if any of them actually felt like they loved me. Everything with Ayato seemed so animal-like now. He made me feel like garbage all day, and he had to know about it. He could feel my emotions, so he must have known what a shitty day I had. And yet, he just dismissed that and felt that it was okay to come sit next to me and pretend nothing happened.

And maybe it was because I forgave him, but I stroked his hair all the way home.

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Ayato wouldn't leave my room. We still hadn't said anything about the school day, and I was getting tired by the minute. I wanted him to leave because… Subaru… Once I stepped into my bedroom I couldn't stop thinking about being bonded to him. It wasn't even that I was excited about the sex—even though I had to admit that I was. It was even more so the fact that I could be bonded to him, and him to me. It was exciting and I wanted it, so badly. I hardly even knew what it meant to be bonded, but with Subaru… I couldn't wait.

Unfortunately, though, I had to wait as long as Ayato was sticking around…

"I'm getting tired," I said softly. I was in bed already, and he was sitting on my vanity stool, avoiding eye contact with the mirror for the past half hour.

"I'll sleep beside you," he said, standing and heading over to the bed.

"I think I'd rather sleep alone tonight." And instead of it just being a simple statement, I heard it come out insulting, and Ayato narrowed his eyes at me. For a moment, I actually felt as if I'd done something wrong, but then I thought about everything that happened, and what was really going on, and I narrowed my eyes right back at him. "I know I don't really understand what it really means to be bonded, but what you did today was cruel and you know it."

"What _I_ did? _Me_?" he spat. "You're kidding, right?"

"I'm not," I glowered. "And what's worse is that you seriously think you did nothing wrong."

"Well, clearly I did something, because you were pissing me off all day!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was me being upset a burden for you?"

"It is, actually."

"Well, if you didn't want this, then you shouldn't have bonded!" I shouted, firing his own hurtful words back at him.

"I didn't think you were going to revert back to your disgusting humanity!"

"This is the way I am, Ayato!" I said, and a traitor tear came crashing down. "I'm sorry this isn't what you wanted! I'm sorry you made a mistake by bonding to me! I'm sorry I don't like it when you prey on the other girls at school! I'm sorry I'm not a better vampire! What else do you want me to say—"

" _Enough_."

I jumped when Subaru was at the door, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed. He was glaring daggers at Ayato.

"What do you want?" Ayato snarled, but stood up straighter when Reiji, Shuu and Laito appeared behind Subaru. They all entered my room and I involuntarily brought the sheets up to my neck, covering myself, even though I was wearing a nightgown anyway.

"Fix this," Reiji said, and it seemed like they were all mad at Ayato. I was glad that they took my side, but a part of me wanted to defend him, too. "Now." Ayato snarled, but only for a moment.

"Even I can feel her desperation," Shuu said. "It's been annoying me all day." Subaru just nodded his agreement. "Whatever you did, undo it before I get mad."

"I'm already mad," Subaru said, baring his fangs. "If I kill you, then you can't hurt her anymore."

"Don't be mad because she chose me over you," Ayato smirked.

Subaru took a fleeting glance over at me before responding. "She asked for me tonight. So, whenever you're finished making a fool of yourself, leave us." Laito immediately got visibly happy and flashed over to my bedside.

"Are you sure you didn't ask for _me_ , Bitch-chan? I'm make you feel _really_ good." He winked and leaned closer, but I just blushed and shook my head. He smirked. "Just let me know when you're ready. I'm a very patient man."

"Why..." Ayato whispered. Everyone got quiet to hear him and I looked across the room. "Why would you tell me that you want to learn to control your emotions? Don't you realize that my ability to feel you is the base of our bond? If you got rid of that…" He paused, and then snarled again, at everyone, even me. "Whatever. Do what you want."

His face was full of rage as he flashed out of the room.

And in the next few moments, so was everyone else… except Subaru. And without warning, he was standing beside my bed. He got down and crawled up next to me, staying on top of the sheets while I stayed under them. Everything had happened so fast that my mind and body were confusing itself. Ayato's words made sense. I hadn't thought about it like that. I was just trying not to bother him, but at least now I understood his hurt a little better. Maybe I wasn't as much of a bother as I thought—it was just so strange for me to be doted on by someone like that, especially when there was nothing I could hide from him.

My mind was racing for thoughts, but Subaru was beside me, and my body was fighting to not think about anything but primal desires. I could feel the butterflies coming back, and he was staring at my face, looking it up and down as if he was taking a picture in his mind. And it was very difficult to concentrate.

"Yui..." he whispered, and I gulped. I didn't want to be nervous, but this was a lot different that what I felt so strongly back in the hallways at school. "You've had a long day. And you came to me when you were in pain, looking for ease. You aren't trapped here. You should never feel like you are. I'm glad you know you can come to me for comfort… But, I think you shouldn't make decisions on a whim or in anger. I'll sleep beside you, but I won't mate with you tonight."

And that was the biggest relief of all. It wasn't that I was looking for a way out—not at all. I just truly wasn't in the mood to sleep with him for the first time; not with thoughts of Ayato and my bond to him so strongly in my thoughts. But it felt like I was already bonded to Subaru—for all I knew, I was. And this only strengthened what I felt for him. This was the Subaru that I loved. This was the kind of thing I was sure he'd only do for me. And it was a good reason to sleep with him anyway… But he was right. It could wait. He would wait. And it wasn't unfair. He wasn't in a hurry. In fact, the way he closed his eyes, and stayed on top of the covers, so as not to touch me… it seemed like he was truly enjoying this. And so was I.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next morning, I woke up to stagnant air and cold air beside me. In a flash, Subaru must have woken me as he left the room. He was no longer beside me, and I remotely remember being excited to wake up to him… Maybe next time.

Instead, I slowly looked around, not quite ready yet to jump out of bed and start the night. I most likely had hours before school started, and I didn't know how I wanted to spend my time. On a positive note, though, waking up at night instead of at sunrise was becoming a nice change for me. I suspected it was the vampire side, but no matter the reason, the moonlight was gorgeous and felt wonderful when it bathed my room in a soft glow, like now.

"Oi, Pancake..."

I jumped and turned my head. "Ayato?"

"You… You didn't mate with him? Why?" He lifted his nose and sniffed around the air a bit before looking at me again. For some reason, just looking into his eyes made me upset, so I looked away. "Oi," he repeated, walking over. He stood beside the bed and looked down at me. "Look at me."

I shook my head, my eyes glued to the wall on the other side of the room. I knew if I stayed like this much longer I might start to cry, so I closed my eyes and just shook my head again.

"You don't want me here?" he asked, and he sounded pained.

I didn't respond. I listened to him breathe for a minute or two before he stopped. Without warning, I felt the one side of the bed crinkle as he leaned forward. I jumped and scooted away—involuntarily, for the most part. But he backed off in reply.

"This wouldn't be happening if you weren't human before..." he muttered.

"Out of all the things you could say, you pick that?"

"I shouldn't have to say anything," he spat, getting angrier now that I was verbally responding to him. So, I got quiet again. "Are you even listening to me?"

I nodded.

"You don't understand how these things work. I get that, but..." he trailed off. "But… It's not like it doesn't make sense, either. You told me you wanted to get rid of my connection to you. Or at least control it so I can only feel what you let me. That's cruel. What you said was cruel, too. I didn't even do anything."

I huffed and flipped onto my back to look at him.

"Ayato… You think that what you know as a vampire makes sense because you lived it. Can you really not apply the same concept to me because I was once human?"

"You don't even understand what you did," he glowered.

"I do, now that you actually took the time to explain it to me, instead of making me feel awful for an entire school day. Maybe you need to learn to communicate. I know you think that you're version of common sense is basic knowledge to everyone, but it's not to me. You have to explain things to me, or I won't understand. And that goes double for things about this bond, because I know next to nothing about it or what I'm supposed to do."

"Fine, I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"As much as I'm glad that's settled, on the other side of the coin, you have to be willing to listen when I try to explain things to you, too."

"Fine."

"Like, first of all, I said what I did because from my perspective, in a human world, where there's no such thing as bonding, there are very few people that can ever benefit from you telling them that you're upset, or stressed or disappointed, or anything like that. And frankly, most people don't want to know because they don't care. And it would be a burden to put all my emotions on someone that I cared about. And I didn't want you to feel my sadness or anxiety because that could be a lot of weight on someone's shoulders… human shoulders."

"That doesn't make sense." he crossed his arms and looked away for a moment, almost like he was defiant against what I was trying to say. I frowned and he looked at me again.

"Well… it makes sense to me. I said it because I didn't want to bring you down with my burdens, okay?"

"Fine."

I sighed. At least if he didn't understand the concept, he understood my intentions. That was a plus.

"Now," I continued, "Will you help me understand the bond better? So maybe we can avoid future arguments like this?"

"What don't you understand?"

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I just closed them for a second and took a deep breath to calm my nerves. Ayato was the definition of unintentionally getting on my nerves.

"Why don't I tell you what I know, and then you can add to it?" He nodded. "Okay, so Reiji told me that bonding is for… well, mainly having children. And there are a lot of males to females, ratio-wise in your species—"

"— _Our_ species."

"Sorry..."

"You can't even call yourself one of us," he spat

"Can you just drop that, please? Imagine you were turned into a dog and all of a sudden you had to refer to yourself as a dog for the rest of your possibly immortal life. You can't stand there and tell me that you wouldn't screw up a little in the beginning."

"Whatever. Back to your lack of knowledge—"

"Ayato!"

He paused and then smirked at me. I kept frowning, so he lifted an eyebrow at me.

"Well, you understand the most basic definition of the word, so that's better than nothing. On the other hand, I think it'd be hard for me to just explain everything right on the spot. Like sure, it's for mating to have children, but then you become leader of the coven and you join multiple families. It has to do with coexisting with each other, especially because our kind tend to not like each other very much. Females lead. You bond to bring vampires together. Many bond to start battles. Or finish them. You choose what to do with yourself. You want to bond with my brothers? Fine. You'll bring our family together. Our father will join. So will our mothers… the ones who are still alive, at least. They'll want to meet their grandchildren. When our father finds out, he'll probably try and get you to start producing offspring immediately. Of course, it's entirely your choice. I can tell you when you're rutting. I'll be able to smell it. So will the others. If you don't want offspring, then we won't mate with you during that time."

"Why do you think it's okay to flirt with that girl in the pool?" I spat out. I couldn't help it. It had been on my mind for a while. Ayato just smirked again.

"She's not a female, Pancake. She's prey. It's as simple as that."

"But you… you let her get so close to you…"

Ayato placed both hands on the bed and crawled forward, leaning his face down near mine. I froze.

"She means nothing to me. She's a body of warm blood." He smirked. "Getting close to you, on the other hand..." He leaned forward and I panicked.

"Does she smell good to you?" I asked quickly, and he recoiled a bit. "Does her blood turn you on? It's the same thing, Ayato! You think because you'd never bond to her, there's no problem? What if I don't want you to drink from her? What if I asked you not to take her blood because I don't like her? You said I have nothing to be jealous of, but what if I'm jealous of that?"

"You don't even like it when we bite you…" He looked at me strangely. "Or, do you? Do you want me to bite you, Pancake? And only you? That's how it should be, you know. I would only drink from another because you dislike when I take from you." He paused. "I guess, from a human perspective, it would be like me getting jealous of a dog."

"What?" I paused.

"Let's say you found a stray pup on the street and brought it home. Then let's say I became jealous of the amount of time you spent with it over me. Same concept?"

"I guess… It just feels different because… well, she's so pretty and I'm…"

"Mine."

I looked up at him. I wanted to kiss him for a split second, but he was too far away and I was too embarrassed to put forth the effort. He probably wouldn't want to anyway…

"I'm confused as to why you didn't mate with my brother last night," he said, breaking the moment of silence. "Wasn't he willing? And didn't you ask for him? That's a little cruel, Pancake, to turn him away after being like that."

"It was his idea, actually… He didn't want me to get hurt, so he said we'll do it another time." I couldn't help but smile as I looked at the sheets between my hands.

"Why? He wanted to hurt you how?"

"No, no. Not like that. He knew that you and I weren't on the best terms, and he didn't want me to make any rash decisions because you and I were fighting… I thought it was very kind of him to do that."

"Wouldn't he have made you feel better?"

"For a time, sure. But I needed to make things better with you before I did something with anyone else. Subaru understood that."

"What's the difference, if you're going to bond with him anyway?"

"It's just the timing, Ayato. You really don't understand?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Another stupid human notion?"

I sighed, and he glowered even more. "I suppose. I can't help but feel like I'm cheating on you by asking him to bond, and it would feel even worse if I did it when we're fighting."

"Cheating me?"

"No, cheating _on_ you." I had to take a moment to laugh. "Humans can only be with one mate, in most instances. If they are intimate with another while openly with someone else, it's cheating."

"That sounds familiar."

"I think I've mentioned it before."

"We don't have that. As males, our bodies won't allow us to mate with another after we've bonded. And for females, I would be honored if you took more mates. Especially if they were my brothers."

"It's just… strange to hear you say that."

"We're already a coven. We're all related by blood. The only thing that could bring us closer is a proper mate. We would all want the same thing from you. And… as males, it would make us feel complete. We are purebloods, after all. And with the only Bride in existence, imagine what our offspring would be like… Reiji mentioned that there may be something better than a pureblood, and that might be it."

"Better? How?"

"Stronger. Faster. Maybe even truly immortal."

"Aren't you immortal?"

"But we can be killed. By fire. Decapitation. Removal of the heart."

I swallowed. This wasn't a conversation I had ever imagined I'd be having.

"Ayato…" I trailed off, but it was time this silly argument was over. "I'm sorry for saying what I did yesterday. I only meant that I didn't want you to be unhappy. I thought that if I could learn to control what I was feeling, then maybe you would be happy. That's all I want for you. I don't want you to be unhappy just because I feel an unpleasant emotion, because I do that a lot. Does that make sense?"

"What makes sense is that you're still concerned with human ideals. If you were to hide your emotions, I would be falsely happy. And the last thing I would want is to smile while you're hiding your pain. Making you comfortable is my right. If you take that away from me, I'm just like any other male to you. This way, I am your mate… And you are mine."

"But," I smiled sheepishly. "You would never even know that I was unhappy."

"That doesn't make a difference. Whether I know it or not, if the truth is that you are hurt, then you are hurt. It wouldn't matter what I know."

"But if you were hurt as well because of me, don't you see that would make me hurt even more? Maybe if you were happy and smiling, it would make me feel better."

Ayato smirked, and there was a kindness in his eyes that made me feel so weak. I suddenly wanted to kiss him again.

"Yui..." he whispered, leaning his head down and brushing his lips over my cheek. I shuddered and let my eyes drift closed. I listened to him breathe for a little while until he let his upper body down onto mine, his weight shifting so I could feel his chest rise and fall with his breathing. I knew he didn't need air to live, but he ran the side of his nose up and down my throat, tracing my veins and running over my collarbone, catching my scent.

I gasped when his cold tongue gently ran over my skin, and up to my jawbone. I arched my neck, half involuntarily, and half for him. I felt his fangs gently scratch my skin, and I immediately knew what was coming. I froze, and in turn, he paused.

"Yui," he whispered again. "If you want me to be happy when you're in pain, I can promise it will never happen." He ran his tongue over my throat once more and a rogue sound came out of my mouth in an exhale. "But… if you didn't want me to feel your agony, I would never be able to feel your bliss. And I would never be truly happy anyway."

He places his fangs on my skin and ran his tongue between the two sharp points. I felt him reach his hand up and run his fingers through my hair. He swiftly pushed the points into my skin and I flinched. He removed them just as quickly and began to suck. His eyes slowly lidded and then closed as he wrapped his arms around me, drawing me into him, my middle coming off the bed to meet him.

Just as my eyes were about to close, and I was prepared to let myself go, the door clicked and opened and I jumped, placing my hands against Ayato's chest and giving him a light shove. He backed up but lifted an eyebrow at me in confusion. I looked over and Subaru was closing the door behind him, quietly. It was one of the first times I've seen one of the brothers not use their super-speed when entering or leaving my room.

"What's wrong?" Ayato asked, tilting his head at me. I blinked a few times. Did he not realize that his brother was almost standing over us now?

"S… Subaru..." I breathed, lifting a hand to motion towards him. Ayato still looked confused.

"Don't you want him?"

I blinked at him a few times in awkward silence. This wasn't going to be something I could explain with human logic. At least that much I knew. This was something else completely. At first I hadn't realized it, but now I saw. Ayato's eyes were beginning to glow red. So were Subaru's…

"I… don't understand." I was the only thing I could say.

Ayato smirked. "You're confused, but not scared. Ask him to bond to you."

"W… What? Why now? I thought we were…?"

"You already have me. And my brother's been waiting. You asked for him, didn't you?"

"I…" I had no idea what to say. "I… don't understand."

"Will you ask him to bond to you?"

"Right… now?"

Ayato nodded, but instead of looking at him, my eyes wandered to the white-haired vampire approaching my bed. My face was flushed, having him come closer while Ayato and I were already so close, almost skin-to-skin.

"What will you…?" I asked Ayato, and he chuckled.

"Whatever you want me to do."

"Yui..." Subaru whispered, and I jumped, hearing him speak for the first time since his unexpected arrival. "Are you all right now?"

"W… What do you mean?"

"I can't feel any ill emotions from you anymore." He paused. "But outwardly, you are very… tense… Are you all right?"

"I'm tense because I'm confused," I said, trying to make my voice steady.

"Confused? About what?"

"She doesn't understand this yet," Ayato answered for me, without taking his eyes off mine. He wasn't smiling, or poking fun. He was calm and understanding for once.

"Should I… not have come?" Subaru asked, his eyebrows furrowing for a second. "Is your anxiety because of me?"

I couldn't answer him. On one hand, of course it was because of him. I thought Ayato and I were going to… and he just walked into my room without warning. But on the other hand… my body was telling me that the last thing I wanted was for him to leave now.

"Yui, ask him to bond," Ayato repeated, a little more forceful this time. I looked at him, a little hurt. I wondered if he'd been excited to be with me again… Did he think this was strange? But then again, he barely even noticed when Subaru entered my room. Unless he noticed, but noticed it like a draft coming in through the window…

"But… I'm with you now..." I whispered.

"Don't you want us both?"

Immediately, butterflies erupted in my stomach and my entire body went up a few degrees. Is that what this was about? Subaru could tell that we were about to be intimate and… thought it was a good time to just show up? But that was so… weird. Unexpected. That was what this was all about? Did Ayato expect it, too? Or did he just happen to think it was a good idea? It couldn't have been planned. I didn't even know Ayato and I were going to start something like this. We'd been fighting still…

"Well? Do you or don't you?" Ayato pressed.

"Can't you just read my mind and figure it out?" I gently snapped at him, and he laughed a little.

"I can tell what you're feeling, not thinking," he smirked. "Of course… I know you're eager to have me, and you're eager to have my brother, but you're also nervous. You're emotions are troubling to figure out. You have a strong sense of desire, but you also have a lot of bars on what you want in your mind. That's the human part of you."

"What do you mean?"

"As a vampire, your instincts are final. You want to mate? Then you mate. Your body tells you that you would enjoy having both of us, so you'd do it without hesitation. On the other hand, even as a vampire, if your mind tells you to be scared of this, then you'd send us away. It's because of your human side that you feel both. You have your emotions barred over your primal desires. You have your fear controlling what you want. You should learn to control it."

"But each of my desires and emotions are for a reason. It's not… It's not like my human side is… is faulty."

"But it is," Subaru said, standing right beside the bed now, looking down at us. His arms were crossed, as if he was getting impatient. I doubted that was it, but I was thinking the worst from his tone. "Like that. Yui, we can both feel your body. Even I don't have to be bonded to you to feel your want. We can almost see the heat coming off of you, there." He motioned downward with his eyes and I didn't need to see where he meant. "We can smell your desire. I can taste your needs on my tongue. They're even making my fangs sting."

"Ok, so I… I can't control how my body reacts," I stammered. "H… How is that faulty?"

Subaru slowly uncrossed his arms and leaned forward with them onto the bed, bringing his face close to mine… close to Ayato's. He gently ran his lips along the side of my jawbone, making me shiver.

"Your desires are part of you. They don't belong to either vampires or humans, but as any animal… Any creature feels these things. It's your emotional side that's faulty..." He licked up a trace of blood left behind on my neck from Ayato's bite marks, closing his eyes to savor it for a moment. "Ayato says he can feel your fear… Why? Anxiety, I can understand. You've never done this before with more than one. But fear? Tell me what you have to be afraid of… For one, Ayato is beside you, and he's bonded. You think he would let me near you for a second if he thought there was any chance I could bring harm to you? Even so, do you think I would hurt you? Do you think he would?"

I shook my head. I could feel bead of sweat forming on my face and I swallowed hard again.

"See? Your fear is faulty." His face got a little calmer. "Even when you were human, Yui… have I ever truly hurt you? Truly?" He paused when I didn't answer and his face seemed sad for a moment. "I know… for a time… there was a time when you were afraid of us…" He looked at me sadly, and then pushed himself off the bed. He took a few steps towards the door, and Ayato looked over at him then, just as confused as I was. "It was before Cordelia had taken control of your body… when your blood had been so irresistible that I drank from you… and I was prepared to destroy you to have it all. Do you remember that?" He turned to look at me over his shoulder. "But you… You couldn't even hold that knife to me. You dropped it at my feet… And I might have killed you."

"When was this?" Ayato growled, sitting up straight. I sat up as well. Ayato snarled at his white-haired half-brother.

"It's not like I was the only one. When the moon was full, before Cordelia's awakening. Her blood had been so potent that all of us were nearly driven to insanity… And even though I gave you my knife, you still refused to use it on any of us." He looked at the carpet, seeming lost in thought. When he looked back up, it wasn't at me. "Ayato… You were the only one who tried to protect her from us. And yet here I stand, wondering how is it that I could feel something like humans do…"

"What are you saying?" I asked gently.

"How is it that you hide it so well?" he whispered sadly, and Ayato smirked.

"And that's why I know you wouldn't harm her." He smirked. "We all have it… for whatever reason."

"What are you talking about?" I asked them, but they shared a smile for a moment before acknowledging me again.

Ayato smirked at me and pushed me back down, ignoring my yelp of disapproval. He kept smiling at me, and it made me blush. Subaru was beside the bed again in an instant, and he crawled onto it, beside the two of us. He reached for my arm and leaned down, running his tongue along my skin before gently biting down below my shoulder. I gasped and Ayato licked at the bites on my neck before moving to right below my collarbone to make two new marks there. He bit down gently again and I flinched back. It took a few moments, but the slight pain subsided and all I could feel was their soft lips on my skin, and the slight tugging as they drew my blood into their mouths and drank.

Subaru came up, his face inches from mine as he breathed warm air onto me. In an instant, he grabbed a handful of the front of my shirt and pulled my head up off the bed. Ayato grumbled, but didn't stop drinking.

Without warning, his mouth was on mine, making me gasp. He kissed me hard, with force I'd never imagined, despite the fact that I thought vampires didn't kiss. He ran his tongue over my bottom lip, slowly, but hard. He slipped it between my lips, finding mine and sucking it into his mouth. I gasped once more as he tried to get me to contribute, but I was still in shock.

"Subaru," I whispered, and although he was always so gentle with me, Subaru took the handful he had of my shirt, and tore it open with one violent pull. Buttons popped and fabric ripped until I was exposed. I wasn't even wearing a bra… But before I had the time to be embarrassed, his tongue was in my mouth again, and mine was in his. He sucked me as eagerly as he sucked my blood, swallowing mouthfuls of my saliva, one after the other, and enjoying it. My face flushed, but my eyes finally closed and my hands moved up to his beautiful hair. I felt a hard bite on my upper thigh, and it made my mouth open wide in another gasp. Subaru took full advantage, practically shoving his tongue down my throat. I couldn't help but gag.

"Subaru..." I panted, and he finally pulled back, more out of breath than I was.

"Yui..." he breathed, "Please… Let me take care of you."

I nodded only once, wondering for a moment why they always said that.

"Bond to me."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven:**

I yelped when Ayato dug his fangs into my inner thigh, close to the gap between my legs, drawing my blood slower than normal. Subaru grumbled some sound, but I didn't have a second to wonder what he could have meant by it. My mind was racing like a live wire and my body felt both hot and cold, yet so weak. I could barely move. My body was cold, out from under the covers, but Ayato's fangs felt like hot iron on my skin and Subaru's mouth, now dropping below my neck to my chest, left a trail of heat on my skin. I had goosebumps all over my body. The two of them were mesmerizing, is every sense of the word.

The sudden warmth hit me as Subaru dropped his full body onto mine, holding his own weight, but every inch of his bare skin touched mine. He gave me a quick look before he slid inside me, without a warning. I quietly gasped, my mouth falling open as my body stiffened. He was hard. Very hard. He felt good inside me. But I just blushed and looked away from him, unsure how to react.

I felt Ayato crawl back up and soon his face was beside me. I turned to look him in the eye for only a moment before looking away, flustered again. I wasn't used to this kind of thing, and obviously, they had never done something like this either, but it seemed to come so naturally to them. I was envious of their confidence, to say the least.

"Oi… Pancake," he said, and I could tell he was smiling just from his voice. "If my little brother does anything you don't like, I'll rip his head off."

Aghast, I looked back at him, but he just just smirked and winked at me, making me blush again. And then, without warning, he ran the full length of his tongue up my face, from my jawline to my temple, just as Subaru moved his hips forward and back a few times. I gasped for air as I watched Ayato plop down beside me, his head in one hand as he continued to smirk. Why was he just laying there, watching me like that? Wasn't it weird for him? But he just kept his eyes on me, and every so often, they would glaze over a bright red, and glow for a moment in his excitement, before returning to normal. I managed to find a moment of relief to speak. Subaru was moving slowly still. I only felt him when he moved a little faster every now and again, so it was more like a massage when he was like this. But it was still embarrassing.

"H… How can you just lay there and…"

"Hmm?" And why wouldn't he take his eyes off my face for even a second?

"Yui," Subaru breathed, and when I turned to him, he put a finger to his lips. He then reached down and cupped my face in one hand. "If you don't want this, you don't have to."

"I want you to bond to me," I said quickly, and I meant it. And it wasn't the fact that he was already inside me. But, it was just… the way it was happening was unfamiliar. It felt so strange with Ayato in the room, clearly enjoying himself and quite happy with being a spectator.

"I'll never hurt you," he whispered.

" _We'll_ never hurt you," Ayato quipped, and I actually laughed as Subaru threw him a displeased frown.

"I think… I think I love you. Both of you…" I whispered, wrapping my hands around the back of Subaru's neck as he came forward for another light thrust. I gasped slightly before continuing. "Is that… wrong of me… to say?"

Ayato smirked, "Well, it's a very human concept—"

"—No." Subaru glared at Ayato again for a moment before looking directly into my eyes. I wanted to look away, but I just couldn't. "Of course it's not… _wrong_." He paused. "I… care for you as well."

Now it was Ayato's turn to glare. His frown became tight across his face. "Tch. Just bond already."

"I will," Subaru replied breathily. "I can bond. It won't take long." But then he flinched, and he pulled out halfway, one eye closed in pain. I blinked a few times in worry, but he fixed his face and shook off whatever it was. For a second I could have swore that Ayato was chuckling at something.

"Ayato…" Subaru breathed. His face looked a little confused and… scared? I couldn't really tell. "Is this… is it painful?"

"Mhmmm." He chuckled again. "It varies for each of us, but it looks like it's going to hurt you _way_ more than it hurt me. Should be a good show."

"Ayato!" I shouted, realizing that Subaru wasn't moving anymore. He was as still as a statue, and Ayato was enjoying watching his brother's caution. "If you're not going to say anything helpful, then get out." I frowned. Was this going to hurt Subaru? I remembered how it had been a little painful for Ayato near the end, but… I never even asked how bad it had been. For a moment, I felt very insensitive, but another thrust from Subaru brought me out of my own thoughts. He was back to moving slowly.

"Helpful?" He smiled and my frown deepened. That wasn't the response I'd been hoping for. "I can say something helpful." He rolled forward and put his lips by my ear. "Do you want me to bite you?" he whispered, and his cold breath made shivers run through my upper body, and Subaru let out a quiet moan. I didn't even know how to answer Ayato. "Or, do you want to bite _me_?"

In another second, he was upright, with his face only inches from mine. He closed the distance easily and brought his mouth onto mine and I jumped. Ayato was… kissing me? His tongue instantly went for my tiny fangs and without warning, the mind numbing sensation hit me. My body tightened and violent shivers hit me for a long moment. Subaru grunted when he felt my shivers resonate between my legs, and then he began rocking back and forth again, a little faster than before.

"Bite me," Ayato teased, parting our lips and baring his fangs playfully. "Make me submit to you… if you can, Pancake." He smirked, liking his own challenge, probably ten times more than I did, and that was saying something.

"Fine," I huffed, the word coming out louder as Subaru's thrusting knocked the wind from my lungs.

Ayato put his wrist to my lips and smirked. Without hesitation, I bit down, hard, and watched his face, unblinking, as he flinched, and then looked at me with what I could only assume was pride. It felt good to have him look at me that way, but it lasted only a moment as I took some of his blood into my mouth and swallowed, nearly gagging. I was a vampire now, but the taste of blood still made me reel.

Ayato's eyes immediately glowed a bright red as his arms gave out and his upper body and head smacked the mattress with a loud thump, and the moans that followed made me even weaker.

Subaru grunted and flinched, and he pulled out halfway again, stopping his movements. Ayato was in convulsions beside me from the blood sharing, but I nearly ignored him.

"Subaru… what's wrong?"

"Damn," he growled, gritting his teeth. "Are you sure you want this?"

"Yes, I'm sure… Why do you keep asking like that?"

"Because it fucking hurts!" he shouted suddenly, and I blinked. I didn't take it personal, seeing as he was frustrated in many ways, but more so sexually. But his outburst made me worry. "The last thing I need is for you to not be sure and then I get fucked for the rest of my life!"

"We can stop if you don't want to—"

"You think I don't want to?!"

"Stop!" Ayato shouted between convulsions. His body spasmed as he gritted his teeth. "Trust me, she wants this," he growled, and then cried out in pleasure or pain—it was hard to tell the difference sometimes, but I assumed pleasure from what happened the last time. "It feels good. Keep going."

My face turned a bright red at that, and even redder when Subaru nodded at his brother and began moving once again. I tightened and Ayato almost screamed, quickly flipping over onto his back with all his leftover strength and panting heavily from the effort it took. His chest rose and fell like it weighed over a ton, and Subaru seemed to be put at ease for whatever reason.

"Sorry," he breathed, looking at me. It took me a second to figure out what he'd said in his quiet breath. "For snapping at you," he added, and I smiled at him.

"I want you to bond to me. I really do."

There was a quick moment of silence and understanding before Subaru started to move again. He placed his open palms on either side of me and lifted half his body with a hard thrust. My mouth opened too wide for the sound that came out of me, and it stayed open as he pushed into me again. He leaned forward and dug himself through my insides, pushing slowly until he was at his hilt, watching my face closely the whole time. And when he was fully sheathed, he grunted and pushed even harder, until his eyes finally closed with a moan. Ayato shivered and it shook the bed.

This time, when he pulled out, he immediately slid back in, still slowly, but the motion never stopped as he pulled halfway out again and then leaned forward as he rocked himself back inside of me, holding himself there for a moment again, and pushing further when he already filled me up. I cried out. It felt good. It felt really good. But I felt like he was testing something. He kept staring, down at my stomach when he pushed farther inside, as if he was trying something for himself. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second and I placed a hand on the top of his head, shuffling his hair.

"Are you alright?" I whispered between breaths.

"Just get it over with," Ayato growled weakly. "You can have your fun next time."

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"Not nothing," Ayato whispered. "He's—ahh!"

Subaru shoved himself hard inside of me and I gasped at the same time as Ayato, both of us caught off guard.

"Idiot! What was that for—urrg!"

Subaru thrust again, and again, slowly getting harder and faster as Ayato's cries and moans began to match mine. He slammed into me a few more times before the three of us cried out together, but my eyes bolted open when Subaru's cry sounded a lot like pain, and in the next second, the bed cracked and something snapped. I yelped and looked to my left, Subaru's fist halfway through the mattress where Ayato's head had just been. The other vampire was panting on the floor beside the bed.

"Almost got me," he panted playfully.

" _Shut up_!" Subaru screamed. He started to pull out, but I pushed my legs together to hold him there. Of course, I didn't have that kind of strength to defy a vampire, but he glanced at me and stayed, thankfully getting the message that I didn't want him to stop.

"This… hurts you that much?" I asked, feeling slightly guilty. "Is there something I can do?"

"It's not your fault," Ayato breathed quickly, probably because he felt my guilt. "And no. It's a first-time thing. He just has to get through it."

Whenever I thought about these kinds of things in the past, I always imagined my first time being with someone as a magical experience. And although this was technically my second time, neither of them really felt that… magical. It wasn't like I regretted it in any way, and I did it because I loved Ayato. And I loved Subaru. But this felt wrong when he was in pain…

"Stop!" Ayato shouted, jumping up from the floor. Apparently his blood in my system was starting to wear off already. Was I doing something wrong? Something about all this felt… just wrong.

"Yui, stop!" He turned to Subaru and pushed him away. " _Stop_ ," he told his brother, and Subaru started to move away again. I didn't know what was going on, and usually I would side with Ayato when he thought something was wrong, but I couldn't do it this time. I glared at him and clenched my legs together again as Subaru tried to pull himself away. He stayed, but frowned.

"Ayato, leave." My voice was unwavering for once, and the yellow-eyed vampire's lips parted in surprise. He looked like he was about to protest, but I shook my head. "If you want to stay, go back on the floor, but don't talk." He slowly got off the bed, but crossed his arms and stared at me, narrowing his eyes a bit. But I had the feeling that I knew what the problem was. "This should be between me and Subaru. You being here is… distracting. I understand that you think like a vampire, and so you think that it's okay to… I don't know. I'm sorry, okay? But I don't… I don't even know what I'm trying to say." I lowered my head, looking away from both of them.

"Your human ideals make this an extremely personal act," Subaru said quietly, and I just nodded, keeping my gaze away from them. "It's not that it isn't personal to us. We just think of it differently. Just like taking blood is personal, I'm sure you've been sucked by more than one of us at the same time. Biting you is… just as erotic as mating. But I understand the difference to you."

"I'm not leaving you here with him when he can't even tell how you feel yet," Ayato grumbled.

"You didn't feel like that when we bonded. Remember?"

"Of course I remember. But now I'm here to keep you safe."

I almost laughed. "You don't have to do that at a time like this. If I'm hurt, I can just say something."

"I… don't like leaving your side when you bond with another," he frowned. "Leaving you now is wrong. If I try to walk away, every part of my body will scream at me to turn around and stay…"

His tone was saddening. It was as if he was begging to not be sent away… But it was uncomfortable to have him in my room now. But I couldn't send him away. Not when he was telling me how it would feel for him to leave. And I'd agreed to try and be more understanding with the way vampires did things. He'd promised me the same thing…

"All right… But please… I don't want to keep realizing that you're here. It's making me uneasy." And what was worse was that Subaru was in some kind of pain, and I had no idea how to help him. But I was beginning to understand what was going on a bit better. Ayato kept saying that he just had to get through it, so it was just part of the bonding process…? In a way, I didn't really feel like I was sleeping with him at all. It felt more like I was… helping him? Comforting him? I wasn't sure, but maybe that was more like what it felt to bond, rather than mate. What I had with Ayato, before Subaru came into my bedroom to join us… that would have been mating—intense, exciting… That would have been more like making love than bonding. It was weird to wrap my head around the concept of them as different things, but it was starting to make sense.

After a few more moments, Ayato nodded once and walked towards the window, opening the doors and stepping out onto the balcony.

"I'll just be out here," he said, cracking the glass doors behind him and leaning out against the white railing. The curtains moved with the gentle wind, making it hard to see him, which I guess was what I wanted. I felt a bit bad, but I brushed it aside and turned all my attention to Subaru. I smiled up at him, realizing that his face had a faint pink blush across it. And he still had beads of sweat on the sides of his face from before.

"Subaru," I whispered kindly, waiting for him to turn his face to look at me.

I reached up and cupped his face with both my hands, gently trying to pull him down. He obliged and leaned down, and when his mouth was close enough, I lifted my head to give him a hard kiss. Still holding himself up, he couldn't move his hands off the bed. I smirked a I pushed my tongue between his lips and ran it over his left fang. He tensed and I felt it between my legs as he stiffened down there. I ran my tongue over it again and he let out a quiet moan, his body shivering for a moment.

"I'm sorry this hurts you. I wish there was something I could do." He began to shake his head, but I didn't give him enough time to reply. "I want you to bond to me. I want it more than anything right now. I think if you just push through the pain, it'll just be over, and then…"

"I'll be bonded to you," he whispered back, closing his eyes and resting his forehead on mine. "I want that, too."

As I was about to try and come up with something more comforting to say to him, he moved his hips and started thrusting again. He lifted his forehead from mine, but kept his face close enough to reach his tongue out and run the tip of it roughly over my lips. I just breathed and closed my eyes, enjoying the moment. The way he moved was different than Ayato, which I could have guessed, but it was something else to feel it. With my eyes closed, I knew I'd be able to tell who was on top of me just by the way they moved, and it made me strangely happy.

I opened my eyes as soon as I heard him grunt, and stared straight up at his face as he shut his eyes and he teeth clenched. But this time he didn't stop or slow. I quickly moved my hands to his head and gently slid them around to wrap around his neck, pulling him a little closer. At first, he came closer, pushing his mouth into my neck for a light kiss, but then he bolted upright, careful not to pull my arms, but still in a rush. He opened one eye to look at me as he gritted his teeth, but he still didn't stop. Instead, as he grunt again in pain, he hit that spot inside me and I convulsed, my stomach muscles heaving. My hands instantly went for the sheets on either side of me and my nails dug into them as his pace actually quickened. He cried out in agony, and I matched him with a cry of pleasure. He was in a lot of pain. I could hear it in his screams. I could see it on his face as it contorted and his teeth grated against each other. But god, it felt so good and I didn't want him to stop.

He didn't let up, ramming himself harder and harder into that one spot, and I felt that feeling again.

"Subaru!" I cried out. My eyes squeezed shut and I screamed before my back lifted off the bed. My body shook and convulsed over and over again, and I knew I only had a few seconds left before it all hit me.

Subaru screamed as I cried out in ecstasy, feeling my entire body tighten and, after a few moments of shivering pleasure, release. Subaru jolted forward, his chest heavily hitting mine as he continued to thrust, a little slower now.

" _Fuck_!" he screamed again, and I grabbed him, holding him as tightly as I could, and then squeezing him harder as I felt his warmth pour into me. But even when it was over, he was still crying out. He didn't pull out of me after he finished, but his remained extremely still. It took him a moment before he flinched again and his right arm swung out, his fist colliding with the bed frame and cracking it in half. I yelped as the bed fell down an inch or two from the impact, but Subaru punched the bed again, this time to my left, through the mattress again, with another cry. I hugged him tighter, bringing one hand up to the back of his head and running my fingers through his hair, gently scratching his scalp with my nails.

"Shh," I hushed him involuntarily, closing my eyes and rubbing my hand against his back. His upper body flinched a few times, and for a second I thought he might have been crying…

" _Fuck_ ," he said again, softer, roughly pulling his hand out of the mattress. "Fuck…" He pulled out and repositioned himself, staying on top of me and hiding his face. I just continued brushing through his soft, white hair and letting him know I was with him. His breathing was staggered and sounded painful still. If I didn't stop myself from thinking about it too much, I probably would have cried for him in that moment.

"Fuck," he breathed and then swallowed hard, followed by more panting.

"Hey," I whispered. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "I can feel you."

"Hm?" I tilted my head to the side. I knew what he meant, but he said it so flatly. I had been expecting something like Ayato's amazement, not nonchalant-ness. "Does it still hurt?" I asked.

"Why do you feel surprised?" he asked, and he pushed himself up to look at me. I took a deep breath and realized that his weight had been hindering my breath before. I was glad I hadn't noticed it. He looked me in the eye, waiting for an answer.

"Well… I guess because… maybe it just feels like the bonding part was… in the background of all that." I didn't know how to put it. I was surprised about a lot of things. And he was staring right at me…

"Sorry," he said softly, before resting his head on my chest and turning away from me again.

I was about to say something else, but he lifted his head up after only a few seconds. He didn't even look at me before he leaned up and dug his fangs into my lower neck. I gasped and put my hands against his chest, pushing against him. I couldn't move him, of course, and he drank from me. I noticed he was drinking faster than usual, but the sounds that came out of him made me squirm a bit. I heard him chuckle before pulling away.

"So you do like it," he smirked, looking up at me. "I've been wondering about that for a while now."

"Wondering… about… what?" I stammered.

"Whether or not you truly enjoy being bitten." He smirked. "It's a strange sensation for you, a mix of pain and pleasure, but you like it." He seemed to be in a much better condition now, and I wasn't in the mood to defend myself. It would have been hard to do when he could feel what I felt, anyway.

"Depends on how I feel," I added shyly.

"You liked it just now."

"Well, you're also laying naked on top of me and we just made lov—well… we just bonded."

"You were already bonded to me," he whispered in my ear. "I can feel that, too."

I didn't doubt that. I'd felt a strong connection to Subaru since the first time I spoke to him in this place, and I felt a bond with him even as a human.

"That's nice," he whispered, shifting himself up to lay down beside me. His head was above mine and he wrapped the blanket over us. "I can't tell exactly how you feel, but whatever it is, I like it."

"What do you mean you can't tell?" I asked. Wasn't he supposed to feel how I felt? Did something go wrong when he bonded? And what about all the pain he went though? What was that about—

"Shit," he said, jabbing me lightly with his elbow. "Cut that out." When my mind went blank for a moment, he cuddled up next to me, wrapping one arm over me and pressing his mouth into my hair. I felt him open his mouth and scratch his fangs against my scalp a few times. "Fuck, I'm tired," he whispered. I felt the silence creep up and stay there, and after a little while, his breathing turned long and steady. I smiled.

I heard the glass doors by the window creak open and then close, and a few seconds later, Ayato lifted up the blanket and crawled under the covers on my right, sandwiching me between the brothers. It didn't take me long to realize that he had undressed, and his cold skin hit me suddenly. I jumped and heard him snicker before wrapping an arm around my front and resting his head beside mine. It was almost too dark to see anything, but a flash of his glowing red eyes looking down at me told me where he was.

"Don't get too turned on now, Pancake. We can feel that, remember?" he teased. But I flushed, and I doubt he would have missed the fact that being between the two naked brothers was making me hot and damp at the same time.

Ayato's hand ran from my chest down to my stomach and I could feel him smirk against me, his lips on my forehead. He traced circles on my waist, slowly making his way downward with his middle finger. He was moving so gently that it almost tickled and I uncontrollably shivered.

Subaru immediately flipped to face me, and I watched his eyes glow red as he looked down at me, too. My eyes went wide when his fingers danced along my collarbone, heading downward as well. I was beginning to pant as Ayato's middle finger traced a half-circle into my hairs and paused for a moment there. I could still feel his smirk.

Subaru's hand fell over my breast, and his thumb gently ran over my nipple. I immediately moaned, and both my hands shot up to cover my mouth. They didn't try to move me, but Ayato's long finger slid between my legs and rubbed one slow circle there. I squirmed, and then Subaru grabbed my hands and took both my wrists into one hand, bringing it over my head as he crawled over me. I felt his tongue swipe my nipple and my chest lifted off the mattress as I let out another moan.

I felt Ayato move as the bed creaked, and he shoved his one knee between my legs, forcing them farther apart as he cupped me down there, squeezing in pulses for a minute or two before sliding a finger inside. I gasped, and as Ayato scratched his finger against that one fragile spot, Subaru bit down on the top of my breast, below the collarbone. I cried out with the pain, but Ayato shifted so that his mouth was all the way down by my waist. He dragged his fangs along the skin there, making me convulse as he slipped two more fingers in and Subaru sucked roughly at my chest, pausing every now and again to run his tongue and thumb over my nipples. He still held my hands, and the more I pulled to free myself, the easier it seemed to be for Subaru to hold me in place.

Ayato cupped his hand with three fingers inside me and jabbed quickly into me. I screamed at the first as he slowly backed out. I screamed with the second when he curled his fingers up inside me. And at the third jab, he kept going, hitting that delicious spot over and over, hard and fast. I screamed and cried and tried to worm my way out, but he had a hold on my legs and Subaru held down my top half. It didn't take long at all for the build-up to begin all over again, and I felt it the most when I had only a few seconds left. Ayato must have sensed it, because he immediately bit down on my side and drank as I came, shrieking as the pleasurable torment came to a blissful end. Subaru clamped his mouth over mine, and just as I thought I was getting a kiss, the taste of blood hit me and I coughed. At first I thought it was his, but he didn't flinch and I realized it must have been mine. I shuddered, coming down from the high. My body relaxed and I closed my eyes. Ayato released me just as I was beginning to feel the pain of his fangs on such a sensitive spot. Subaru released my wrists soon after, and I could feel sleep only an arm's length away. The two vampires curled up on either side of me, and before I knew it, everything was dark and peaceful.

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I woke to the sound of silence and crickets, as per the usual life at the Sakamaki mansion. Moonlight was just starting to show through the windows and I wondered what time it was. Certainly someone would have woken me up if I was going to be late for school, right?

I slowly turned my head to look for the brothers, and linked a few times when I saw them, standing by the door, their arms crossed and both of them staring at me like I was about to attack them. I stared back for a few moments, but neither of them wavered.

"Are you two—"

"Get up slowly, Yui," Subaru warned.

"Take it easy for a bit," Ayato frowned.

"What's… going on?" I asked, beginning to push myself into a sitting position. But before I could even put my elbow on the mattress, both brothers were at the bedside, their hands on each of my arms. "What's going on?" I asked again, a little more forceful.

But then it hit me—the tense and growing pain. Slowly, at first, but I felt it. And as soon as I got the hint from my sore muscles, I lifted the covers off my naked body and looked down. My eyes widened. I was covered in bruises and bite marks, and everything hurt. I didn't dare to move, as my body slowly brought on the pain as I became more and more awake.

But another thought was still tickling at the back of my mind.

"What time is it? I can't skip any more days of school. I can barely miss another class without having to retake the semester. I can't afford to take the day off." I frowned when Ayato didn't seem to care. He just shrugged at me.

"You still have a couple of hours," Subaru said flatly, as if asking about school had been childish of me. "You need to clean yourself," he then added, pulling the sheets the rest of the way off. I shuddered, half from the cool air and half from them staring at all of my pale flesh, now marred with black, blue and red marks everywhere.

"Wrap yourself in something," Ayato said, looking around the room.

"I have a robe hanging over the chair by the desk." It was a light pink robe—very fuzzy and one of my favorites. But I pursed my lips when he brought it over to me. The last thing I wanted to do was get it dirty or stained.

"Put it on," Subaru said. He crossed and then uncrossed his arms. "Here," he motioned, leaning over to help me up. Barely felt any pain from it, considering he lifted all my upper bod's weight with just one arm, but my muscles tightened and I tensed when I was finally upright. Ayato began wrapping the robe around my shoulders, not bothering to help me get my arms through the sleeves.

"Just hold it against yourself," he said, and in the next moment, I was in his arms, and halfway down the hall. Subaru was in our wake and the bathroom was in front of me in a matter of less than twenty seconds.

It took Ayato a few minutes to fill the tub after he set me down on the cold floor, still wrapped like a burrito in my pink robe. Subaru stood by, watching the floor. He was probably deep in thought from the way he barely blinked.

I heard the faucet turn off and Ayato was beside me, crouching down and tugging on the robe.

"Come on, Pancake. We don't have all day." His tone was kind, but I could tell he was still in a bit of a rush to get this over with. I just nodded and shrugged the robe off my shoulders, flinching a bit at the discomfort of moving. He lifted me up and placed me in the tub.

At first it stung, and I winced, but I became numb to it after only a few moments. In the water, I had time to analyze my condition. There were literally bite marks everywhere—on my calves, my thighs, my arms, my chest, and even one on my stomach from Ayato. And I couldn't see them, but I knew there were plenty more on my neck and collarbone. I could feel them sting every time the water grazed them, too. There were black and blue spots on my thighs, as well, and my breasts were darkened from all the squeezing and sucking. Brown and yellow hickies lined my collarbone, too. I didn't have to see them to remember, and no doubt there were some around my mouth. My lower lip even had a fang mark on it. How was I supposed to hide all that by the time school started in a couple hours? And being able to walk was another problem altogether.

When I looked up, Subaru wasn't in the room anymore, and Ayato was walking over to sit beside the tub. He smirked when he looked down at me, through the now musky water. I frowned in reply. Was this funny to him? I didn't want this. I didn't want to look like this…

"How… How am I supposed to go to class like this?" I whispered, more to myself, but wanting him to hear my worry, too.

"You're unhappy with me," he replied, and I just stared into the water. I wasn't necessarily unhappy, per say… It was just a shock to see my own body like this. It was worse than just being bitten. They were… just too strong. Maybe if I'd been born a vampire, then I wouldn't be so weak that they hurt me like this. It wasn't like last night hadn't felt amazing, but looking back on it, I remembered thinking for a split second that it hurt beneath all that bliss. And this was the result.

"I need to remember to hold back," he said.

That didn't make me feel better at all. I wasn't strong enough to satisfy him. Was that what he was trying to say? That my body was still that of a fragile human? Was I not what he wanted? And what if I never changed and I stayed this way forever and he was stuck with someone who would snap in half if he didn't always hold back…

"It's not like that…" he snickered, and I looked over at him. "I just need to watch where I bite, is all. And not to mention the fact that Subaru was starving. Half of us are, anyway." He smirked and I blinked a few times.

"Wait… what? What do you mean, they're starving?"

He tilted his head like the answer was obvious.

"Ayato, what do you mean?"

"You're our blood," he said, lifting an eyebrow. "Other than Subaru and I, because we were allowed to bond to you, have drank from you in quite a while. Especially since the Awakening. I know Shuu went out on his own the other night to grab a drink in town, and Kanato's been off wherever a few times this week. Not sure about Reiji, though… He's been on edge for a while now, so I assume he's been thirsty for at least a few days."

"Wait, you mean… they're not drinking blood? Won't they die?"

"Are you not listening? Did you get a bruise on you brain, too?" He tapped my head with his fist a few times and I pouted. He smirked. "I just said they're been going into town at night. It's a little different for us to just take your blood now that you're a vampire… or half vampire… or whatever you are."

"But…" I lowered my head, hiding my eyes as I let my hair fall into my face.

"What? Why are you embarrassed?"

"You said…" I could feel my face heating up a bit. "He went into town to get a drink?"

"Ouch…" Ayato frowned. "You're upset? Why?" He leaned closer to me when I didn't answer him, and brushed a lock of hair out of my face to look at me from below. He saw my face flush and I quickly turned away from him as I heard him laugh. "I get it. It's Shuu, right? You don't like the thought of him drinking from another girl."

I didn't respond. God, it was annoying to have him be able to feel his way around my inner thoughts. It sometimes felt like I had no privacy anymore. But on the other hand, it was nice to not have to say everything and risk it coming out the wrong way or being misinterpreted somehow.

"Don't worry, Pancake. He prefers you. We all do."

"That doesn't make me feel better," I mumbled, and then instantly regretted it. And I felt awful about this whole, vampire-mating thing again, too. Again, I just slept with Subaru and Ayato and I was having jealous thoughts about Shuu? What was wrong with me? Was I seriously thinking about jumping from one brother to another? I understood that I felt this way because I was no longer human… but so fast? I barely even talked to Subaru after last night. I didn't say a word to him about anything other than casual or necessary conversation. It felt more like a one-night stand to me… Although, I was positive that they all felt differently about it…

"I wish I could feel you the way you feel me? Can it ever be like that?"

"Hmm?" He lifted an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Like, you want to be a male?"

"I guess…"

"That would only get confusing. For large covens, the female is the one who matters most, so all her mates can feel her through the bond. But if you felt us, too… It would be overwhelming. Let's say you had a coven of thirty vampires. Then all their emotions would be flooding into you at all times, and then each of your mates would feel everything the other males were feeling, as well. It wouldn't make sense. We only need to feel you, not each other. Otherwise, when you're in trouble or in pain, it might become hard for us to pinpoint where you are or who we're feeling."

"… Oh…"

He sighed. "Hurry up and get clean. Mr. Attitude should be back soon with something for you to eat." He crouched up on his back legs and leaned over the side of the tub. "Here, let me help you. Try not to move so much. Subaru and I will do what we can for the bite marks when we're back in your room."

"Here," Subaru said, and I yelped. He was behind the tub and I never even heard him come back in. He was holding a juice box over my head and I tilted my head up to look at it. Ayato took it for me and held the straw to my lips. It was cranberry juice, for the loss of blood. Subaru bent down and leaned against the opposite side of the tub as Ayato, both of them watching me as I drank. They were awfully close…

"This shouldn't take long," Ayato said, handing the juice box to Subaru for him to hold and dunking a washcloth into the water. He lifted it up to run it over my shoulders. I winced, but he kept going. I drank small sips from the skinny straw every now and again as Ayato quickly cleaned my skin. I was surprised when he purposefully avoided both my chest and between my legs. And when he was finished, he handed me a clean washcloth and motioned for me to do those places by myself.

When I was finished, Subaru lifted me out of the tub and stood me up to dry me off before Ayato brought my robe over and he cradled me in his arms. I was back in my bedroom with them in less than thirty seconds. Well, it took me a moment, but I looked around and noticed my surroundings.

"This isn't my room…"

"You'll be staying in here from now on," Subaru said quickly, also pulling out a large tray of food and setting it at the end of the bed. "First of all, you need to eat something…" He lowered his head for a moment. "You're bed needs to be replaced. The mattress is torn in too many places and the frame is about to shatter. This room is also closer to mine, so you'll move in here for now."

"I told her we'd take care of the bites," Ayato said, pouting. "I wanted to leave my marks on you, Pancake. I want everyone to know that you're mine." He chuckled when I frowned at him and I turned just in time to see Subaru roll his eyes. I barely had any time to think about moving into a new room. It looked like Subaru had already moved most of my belongings into this new one, though.

"Just eat," Subaru commanded, crawling over me on the bed. He untied the front of the robe and flung it open, making me flush all over again. He eyed me up and down a few times before bringing his lips to my throat. I jumped when I felt his tongue run over what must have been a bite mark. And then he did it again. And again.

"What are you…?"

"Our saliva helps. I told you that," Ayato mentioned offhandedly. He grabbed some fruit off the tray of food and brought it to my mouth with a toothpick. I opened my mouth and took a small bite. "You like it when I feed you?" he asked playfully, and I felt my body get hot.

"Tch."

Subaru backed up for a moment and covered his mouth with one hand. He looked away from me.

"What's wrong?"

Ayato gently grabbed my chin and turned my head to face him. "You're turned on again, Pancake. But you're in no position for us to take you again." I flushed even harder and he smirked. Subaru stood up and put his back to me. I frowned, and regretted even having thoughts, as sadness went through my mind. He immediately turned back to me and I had to look away. I didn't want him to feel that…

"S… Sorry," I muttered.

He didn't say anything, but he crawled back onto the bed and continued licking at my wounds. Ayato fed me another piece of fruit before setting down the toothpick and starting on the fang marks all over my legs. Those were definitely his doing. Subaru stayed above my stomach, for the most part. The one that hurt the most was the one Ayato had put on my side. The puncture wounds were deep and he'd drank harder than usual from them. I could feel them burning inside, and as soon as I thought about it, Ayato moved to work on that bite for a while.

It must have been only a half hour since I woke up, so I had at least and hour and a half before school, still. And instead of being embarrassed like I thought I'd be… I simply decided to relax and enjoy this treatment. Their mouths on my body certainly made me feel physically better, for whatever reason. And I had the funny feeling that I would be refreshed and ready for school with plenty of time to spare…


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve:**

"—such a beautiful night!" Laito exclaimed, and I started, glancing over at him in the back of the limo. Everyone had been talking since we left the mansion, and it was odd to see them all so cheerful for once. I must have drifted off into a daze. "If only we didn't have to go to school!"

"We could have just skipped," Subaru mumbled, his arms crossed.

"That's the last thing we need from you," Reiji quipped. "You're already the youngest of us and you've skipped more than enough times already. The last thing you need is to be held back a grade, too."

Subaru hissed and Ayato and Laito laughed. I couldn't help but put a hand over my mouth to stop any sounds from coming out. He was talkative, but Subaru didn't look so happy about the direction the conversation just took against him, and I wasn't in the mood to try and piss him off. Not like I ever was, either.

"Oi, Pancake!" Ayato snapped his fingers in my face and I jumped again, looking over at him. He was on my left, one long arm wrapped around my shoulders and pulling me closer to him every so often. Subaru was to Ayato's left, and I was surprised that he seemed as nonchalant about me as ever. It was almost as if nothing had happened yesterday, and everything was back to normal. The only reason I knew that yesterday had been real was the numb feeling in my body. The two brothers had healed my bite marks quite well, but I still had bruises, and my muscles were all weak. It was just that no one could tell from just looking at me… No humans, that is. I assumed that the cheerful mood in the car was because everyone already knew about what had happened. It made me flush.

"Look! Bitch-chan is blushing!" Laito cooed immeditely, crouching down as he stood from his velvet seat. He never let me have a moment of peace when I was flustered. He crawled over to my side of the car and put his hands on my knees. I yelped and he put his head on top of his hands and pouted up at me. "See, Reiji? She took more than one of us." He smiled. "Does this mean it's finally my turn, hmm?"

"Shut up," Subaru growled, leaning forward and pressing his palm against Laito's face until he fell backwards. He playfully grumbled and rubbed his bottom from the light fall.

"That wasn't very nice, Subaru," he fake-cried. "You can't just keep her to yourself anymore, you know."

"Teddy says it was funny to watch you fall down," Kanato suddenly piped in, looking at the floor of the car. He looked up occasionally only to meet his stuffed bear's eyes for a moment before looking down again. His voice had been monotone and bland.

Laito stood and crawled to the middle of the floor, turning and sitting crossed-legged, staring up at me.

"Biiiiitch-chaaaan," he called, squeezing his eyes shut. When he opened them, his eyes were a bright, glowing red. His expression was devilish and it made the blood rush to my face. "Imagine, if that's what I can do to you with just a glance, what do you think I can do in bed, hmm?"

I just froze as my face got even redder. No one had anything to say about that? Not even Ayato or Subaru? I gulped as he continued to stare at me. It took a few moments, but I finally broke eye contact and tried to look out the window. It was too dark out, so I nervously looked across the seats at Shuu. I could still see Laito grinning from ear to ear at me out of the corner of my eye. But Shuu gathered my attention for the moment. He wasn't looking back at me, though. He was staring out the dark window, listening to whatever was playing in those earbuds of his. He never took them out. At least, I'd never seen him without them. He even bathed with them in…

And he looked so bored. Despite everyone else being talkative and as cheerful as the Sakamakis could be, Shuu just stared out the window at nothing but the night outside. He had said a few things on the ride so far, but they had been mostly irritated comments, as per his usual routine on the way to school.

The limo stopped and Ayato was the first to jump up, pulling me with him. By the time I was upright, everyone but Ayato and Subaru were gone. Ayato gave me a light shove towards the door, and Subaru waited for me to exit.

I stepped down onto the pavement of the parking lot, and Ayato and Subaru lead the way into the first classroom building. I was about to say something as we neared the first years' hallway, but Subaru turned and disappeared down the hall without a word. I paused to stare at the ground where he was just standing a moment ago.

"Don't take it personal." Ayato smirked down at me. "He's just an antisocial freak. He can't help it."

I frowned at the attempted joke, but just let it blow over as he lead the way to the pool room. I really didn't feel like getting into the water right now, but…

"Oi." I bumped into Ayato's back and almost fell. "Unless you want to watch me change, your locker room is over there. But you can watch me whenever you want, Pancake. And I'd rather you not watch anyone else." He winked and headed off, leaving me frozen in place. At this rate, my face was going to stay permanently red for the rest of my possibly immortal life. I shook it off and headed for the girls' locker room.

"Yui!" Sona called, as soon as the door shut behind me. I waved at her and walked over to my locker. She came jogging over, looking a little distraught. Just before I was about to ask her what was wrong, she nearly tripped right in front of me and she yelped, catching herself on the wall. "I… I'm not sure if it's serious or not, but I heard some of the other girls saying that they were mad at you and… I don't know. They just didn't sound very happy. I thought I should tell you."

"Mad at me? For what? And who?" I asked, unhappily coming down from my high as reality set itself back into motion. And just as Sona answered me, I knew who it was. Reality was back, after all…

"Ereka… and her friends. It's mostly the new girls."

"But, Sona, aren't you technically new here, too?" She froze for a moment and I laughed. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Well, sure, I've been here less than a month, but don't group me in with those... those noisy girls."

"Noisy?" I could've thought of some better words than that… Sona was too kind.

"I just wanted to let you know. They sounded really mad before." She jumped. "I-I still have to change. Sorry. Excuse me." She grabbed her pack and hurried into the changing room. I decided to change in a bathroom stall today because most of the girls were already out in the pool, and I wanted to look at my body before going out there in a bathing suit.

The bruises weren't as bad as I thought they'd be, but I had so many around my waist and my chest. Thankfully, the swimming suit covered up the really bad ones. And if anyone asked about the few on my arms and legs, I could just say that I took a fall yesterday. My neck would have been much worse if they hadn't healed up all the bite marks for me, but there were a few marks there, as well. I figured they were really light, so no one would notice unless they were looking for them. I pulled my hair over them and thankfully it covered everything up. I nodded once to myself before stepping out of the stall, dropping my school clothes back in my locker, and heading out to the pool area.

As always, it was hot and humid, and I looked around, searching for Ayato's hair in the water. For some reason, I felt a strong sense of determination to learn how to swim. I knew that the reason I hadn't learned yet was because Ayato hadn't been taking my lessons seriously up until now, but that was going to change. I wanted to talk to him about teaching me for real. And if anything, there was a large pool in the mansion, as well. He could teach me even when we were at home.

I spotted a splotch of orange hair and stared for a moment. It was Ereka. And she was surrounded by her little gang of pretty girls. I didn't know for sure, but I would bet that she had been the one to push me into the deep end of the pool in the last class. I didn't want to think about that, but I found Ayato's hair at the far end of the pool, in the deep end. Ereka was also swimming right towards him, her gang in pursuit.

I wasn't going to be able to swim all the way over there, so I took my time, careful not to slip and fall, and walked around to the other side of the pool. Ereka was laughing at something, trying to act cute, as I neared them. She looked up and noticed me approaching and I went to wave, trying to be polite, but she cried out and her head slipped under the water. My eyes widened, but she came back up after only a second and grabbed onto Ayato, panting, and pulling herself a little too close to his bare chest.

"Oh my god," she breathed through a few obviously fake coughs, "I slipped. I'm so clumsy! Good thing you were right here, Ayato. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here for me to hold on to." She giggled and pushed herself up close to him in the water, her hands on his shoulders. My face turned red for a whole other list of reasons.

"Could you please not touch him!" I blurted out, not thinking. Ereka, Ayato and her posse all looked up at me, but Ayato was the only one who started laughing. The others didn't think it was very funny.

"Excuse me?" she immediately backfired, and I had the dreadful feeling that maybe she'd been planning this all along. I didn't want to fight with her, especially now that I started this conversation with something I just blurt out without thinking. "I almost drowned! Are you saying that you'd rather have me drown?"

"Of course not… But you didn't slip. You faked it so you would look like some kind of damsel in distress."

Ereka gawked at me from in the water. She was still flush up against Ayato, who was still annoyingly smirking up at me. Did he think this was funny?

"You've got some nerve!" Ereka screamed, and whether it was her intention or not, she got the attention of at least half the people in the pool. "What do you want from me, anyway, huh? I'm so grateful to Ayato for saving me," she said, rubbing her perfectly manicured hand over his chest a few times. Why was he just letting her do that? He was acting like a rag doll… "But for you to tell me that I just tried to _pretend_ that I was drowning… Are you kidding me? Unlike you, I'm actually trying to _learn_ something in this class, instead of flirting with the boys, strutting around the outside of the pool in that horrific bathing suit, trying to get attention. Forgive me for having standards for myself!"

I was baffled. Everyone was in the water, and the people paying attention to what was going on were all staring at me. I saw a few people chatter and whisper to one another and I just stared out at the pool, my lips parted. I didn't even know what to say. And before I could think about how to respond, Ayato pushed himself up and out of the pool—out of Ereka's arms, and landed on his feet in front of me. I stared at him. So did everyone else in the room. He took one long stride forward and pushed himself right into a kiss, grabbing me and pulling me against him before I had time to think.

My eyes were wide open as I stared at his closed lids. One of the girls in the posse screamed bloody murder. A few people all the way in the shallow end started clapping and whistling. But for the most part, it was quiet, apart from the sound of splashing and swimming.

When I thought the kiss was over as Ayato began to pull away, I placed my hands on his chest, pushing him and preparing for a much-needed inhale. But his lips never left mine. His hands moved to the back of my neck and head and he kissed me harder. My eyes were still wide open… This wasn't his style at all. Ayato hated kissing, so why…—?

"Get a room!" I heard a boy shout, and more hollering and whistling followed.

I tried to push myself away, but he stuck his tongue out and forced my lips apart. As soon as the tip of his rough tongue hit the point of my fang, my eyes immediately squeezed shut as I tried not to moan at the sensation.

"A… Ayato…" I whispered into him, but he didn't respond. I knew that as he traced circles around my fangs my body was squirming against his. And with the knowledge that we were both half naked, my body seemed to move on its own. I would try to squirm away, but he would hit my fang right at the tip and suddenly my body would arch into him and my legs would tense. And now I could feel him, too, pressing against the bottom of my stomach. He was getting turned on. This was bad. Why was he doing this…? The noises in the pool were growing silent with each passing second, until I realized that there were no more sounds of splashing water. No one was even moving…

But he didn't release me. He parted our lips for only a second to let me take in a gulp of air, but right before I could practically choke, he dove back in with his tongue, swirling it around my mouth with exploration on his mind.

"Ayato…" I whispered again, "Ayato… please… this isn't… the time…"

Every part of me screamed. Everyone was watching. In any other case, I wouldn't have cared half as much, but these were my classmates. The majority of them I had in other classes, and I had the rest of the school year to spend with them. How was I supposed to show my face in this school anymore after something like this?

And then he finally released me, letting me go, but still holding onto me. He smirked as he turned back to Ereka and her friends. I couldn't handle the amount of unwanted attention, so I turned my face away and stared at the angle where the tile floor met the wall. My face was definitely going to stay bright red forever at this rate. I never got a break.

"Yo!" Ayato called to the girls in the pool, and I knew he was smiling again. "I'm not interested in anything you have to offer. You're blood smells like bitter garbage, too. So, if you could stay away from me now, I wouldn't have to hurt any of you."

" _Hurt_ us?" At first, they giggled, thinking it was some kind of joke, but the aura around me now told me that Ayato wasn't smiling anymore, and it was silent again in the room.

"It's not like I'd mind… ripping your heads off, that is. But it'd be a pain, so I'd rather not waste the energy. But if you make my female upset again, I'll take great pleasure in letting you drown next time. Maybe I'll even help you, since you seemed so eager to go under just now."

There was more silence, before one of the other girls slapped her hands on the surface of the water, making a few of the girls around her jump and then glare at her for scaring them. "You're… crazy. There's something wrong with you!"

Immediately, Ereka took the reins on that one. "Yea! You're fucking crazy! You can have the stupid bitch! I bet it's all her fault you're acting this way! You can come to me once you're ready for a real woman!"

"You guys really are dating…" another girl said. "Yui's a _liar_."

Ereka took the reins again as people gave her more ideas. "Yea! Yui the bitch is a big fat liar!"

She managed to flirt with Ayato and completely annihilate me in front of the class in one go, I noticed. Just a minute or two ago, she was all over Ayato, hands all over his shoulders, boobs in a tight bikini top pressed into his chest—skin contact galore. The image of it was burned into my brain for now, but instead of making me upset, it was making me angry. How dare she do all this, and then once she can't have her fun anymore, turn it around and make me look bad. Granted, Ayato's little stunt had made everything ten times worse, in my opinion… But she didn't have to go this far. Just because she didn't get what she wanted? Which was what? Ayato? She would have got bitten in the end anyway, so she should really have been thanking me. If she still chased after him after this, she was ridiculously dumb.

"Leave her alone!" someone shouted, and my eyes left the wall in surprise. It had been Sona, who never made a peep. But now that she opened her mouth, all eyes turned to her. She looked like she wanted to say more, but instead she put half her head underwater and blew bubbles. Everyone started ignoring her again and she came back up for air.

"The teacher's not even here. Let's go," Ayato said, his arm still around my waist. He walked me over to the girls' locker room before stepping inside with me. I heard a few girls scream behind us, but the door shut and all sound ceased. Then he grabbed my wrist and dragged me around the locker room until we were in a shower stall. They had no doors, but he pulled me into one that faced the wall. And before I got a word in, he shoved me against the side of the stall and bared his fangs with a growl. My eyes widened, but not before he pushed his excitement into my stomach, like before. I jumped a little.

"A… Ayato…"

"Class won't be over for a while. No one's coming in here, Yui. And I'm starving." He bit down above my collarbone and I yelped. He cupped his hand over my mouth and drank hard. He pushed one leg between mine and forced them apart. I yelped again through his hand and my head involuntarily tilted back from the sensations.

"Back away from her!" a voice suddenly screamed, and I pushed Ayato away as hard as I could. He obliged and took a step back, facing the person who screamed. I stared into Sona's eyes in absolute shock. She was glaring down Ayato, and she was holding something… something that looked strangely like Subaru's knife. But that was impossible, because I had it in my nightstand back home. Ayato must have noticed the sharp weapon because he hissed dangerously.

"Sona… where did you get that? I think we're just having a misunderstanding—"

"I said, back away from her!" Sona shrieked, completely ignoring me. "Now, vampire!"

My eyes went wide and my hand immediately jumped up to cover the bleeding bite marks above my collarbone. She must have seen him. She must have seen us…

"Sona, this isn't what it looks like… I mean, come on. Vampires? There's no such thing—"

"I know!" she yelled at me, her eyes never leaving Ayato. "I know what he is! I'm trying to help you, Yui! You don't know what they're capable of!"

"Hunter…" Ayato said slowly, and then smirked. "In training."

"My father trained me," she hissed. "I'm no longer in training because vampires like you murdered him!"

"Hmm," Ayato chuckled. "You're in over your head, little girl."

"You think I don't know what you can do? I've killed your kind already. I've lost count. You don't scare me."

"And what about now?" Subaru asked, stepping around the corner. Sona whipped around and backed up against a far wall as the two brothers walked towards her. Without thinking, I dashed forward and stood between them, holding out my arms.

"Don't hurt her," I said forcefully.

"They're not going to listen to you, Yui. Please, stay behind me. Let me take care of this. I saw him biting you. I promise, that will never happen to you again. I'll kill these monsters!"

"No!" I suddenly shouted. "You can't! They're… They're my…"

"They're not your friends, Yui. No matter what they've told you, they only see you as a blood bag. You have to listen to me."

"She doesn't get it," Ayato smirked.

"She thinks you're pre-Awakening," Subaru said, lifting an eyebrow. "Hunters can't sense you, while we can. How strange."

"What does that mean?" Sona snarled.

I just watched her in amazement. This wasn't the same girl I knew and talked to. This wasn't the Sona that shyly meant well and hid from large crowds. She was… confident… and deadly. She was a vampire hunter…? And I never even noticed. I never even had an inkling of an idea. I never gave much thought to the hunters because I rarely heard about them and I'd never seen one before.

"Let me kill her," Subaru shrugged. "She knows about us and her secret's out of the bag. She can't be allowed to live."

"No!" I shouted at him. "Sona is my friend!"

"She's a hunter, Yui. You understand what that means, don't you?" Subaru asked subtly. "She _kills_ vampires. No exceptions."

"But she's trying to help me! She's not trying to kill me! She…" I trailed off and turned to her when it finally clicked in my head. She thought I was human. She thought that Ayato bit me just because of the blood… She didn't realize that we were all…

"Yui…" Sona said slowly. "Don't listen to them. Come over here. Stand behind me and I'll protect you." Was it simply because she couldn't sense me as a vampire? Was it because I was originally human? There were too many unanswered questions and my head was spinning.

"What's going on?" another voice called and I turned to find Shuu strolling into the locker room, his hands in his pockets. "I can feel your anxiety just from _you_ being bonded to _me_. How awful…"

"Why do you keep coming?" Sona snarled, gripping the silver knife even tighter.

"I could sense my future mate's cry for help," he said, half bored and half sarcastic.

"That's disgusting," Sona spat. "What do you plan to do with her?!"

"I think you should be asking what we plan to do with _you_ ," Subaru frowned.

" _Stop it_!" I screamed. "All of you, just _cut it out_!"

"Someone bit of more than she could chew, hmm?" Laito smiled as he entered the shower room. Reiji and Kanato were behind him. "I knew I smelled garbage, but I had no idea it would be a little lady hunter. What happened, did your parents leave you all alone? Are you lost?"

"Shut up!"

"Ooh, feisty. But still. You're way too young to be taking on a group of us. Maybe you didn't think this through, hmm?"

"I am going to protect Yui! That's my job as a hunter! I will not let you beasts harm another human while my heart still beats!"

"Another human?" Laito blinked in confusion.

"She can't sense it," Shuu piped in, before covering his mouth and yawning.

"Sense what?" Sona snapped. She was crouched, like she was ready to pounce. I frowned. This poor girl was in this mess to save me, when I didn't need saving, in any sense of the word. I had a family of vampires to protect me, and very little could get past them. But Sona… the Sakamakis were already advancing on her, and it was all because she had been trying to protect me… If she died, that was on me and I knew it.

"Enough!" I said. "Ayato! Subaru! Stop it!" Immediately, they paused and looked over at me. I was happy to see that the bond gave me some control in this case. "Shuu, Laito. Reiji. Kanato." And even when they weren't bonded, the other brothers listened to me. I felt a strange sense of power all of a sudden, and it felt… good. It was strange, but good. "You will not hurt her. Any of you. Do you understand me?"

"She'll just try and kill us later, you know," Subaru said softly. I met his beautiful red eyes and nodded.

"Sona, please," I walked towards her and she lowered her knife—obviously still not understanding what I was, but the look on her face was extremely confused. "These are not bad vampires. They only take my blood when I allow it and they don't hurt people. In the time I've known them, they've never killed a human before. They don't hurt people. You don't have to kill anyone. Each of them are very important to me, and I wouldn't want them to die. Can you understand that?"

"But…. He bit you."

"I wanted it."

"Wh… _What_?"

"I have a very special relationship with these vampires, and I don't expect anyone to understand. But I do expect you to understand that I will not tolerate it if you try to bring them harm. If I ask them not to hurt you, they won't, but I can't ask them to not defend themselves if you attack them. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"You're… threatening me? You know I'm on your side, right? I'm trying to help you. Listen, I don't know what they did to you, but you need to snap out of it! They're using you and you need to break away from them!"

I opened my mouth to say that they never did anything to me, but I froze… The Awakening… was because of them. They're the reason I turned into a vampire… For a split second, I wanted to agree with Sona, and I hated myself for it. I shook off the feeling of uneasiness and stood up straight.

"I understand where you're coming from, but they saved me. I was… very sick. There was something wrong with me and they helped me get through it. I don't feel like I owe them anything, but they have my trust. And my friendship."

" _Friendship_?" Ayato smirked, walking over and grabbing me from behind. He nuzzled himself into the back of my neck and I yelped. Subaru snarled and grabbed my arm, yanking me away. I fell into his chest and looked up at him in shock. He leaned down and started lapping up the blood that ran down from Ayato's bite marks and I shivered. Now really wasn't the time for this…

"You don't hurt her, we won't hurt you," Shuu said casually as Sona gawked at everything in front of her. She went back to gripping her vampire-killing knife, which wasn't a good sign. But she nodded at Shuu.

"I wouldn't hurt her anyway."

"You would if you knew…" he whispered, and I doubt Sona heard him. She was too busy watching me as Subaru finally lifted his mouth from my neck and stared at her with glowing red eyes. Ayato chuckled as she gasped.

"How can I be sure you won't try and kill me as soon as we leave this room?" she snapped, but her voice wavered in real fear.

"They won't," I assured her, pushing myself away from Subaru. "If I tell them not to, they won't. I promise."

"How can you make promises for uncontrollable monsters? I can't trust your word. And I certainly can't trust theirs." She was back to facing the knife at the brothers. I frowned. There was no way out of this mess if she wasn't going to trust me.

"You can trust my word," I said, and then gulped in fear of what I was about to do. "Here's why." I held out my hand to Subaru first and he frowned at me, shaking his head. "Trust me," I whispered to him.

"You don't do this when you're in danger. We can't protect you if we're like that."

"Just trust me, please," I said, and he sighed before holding out his wrist. I dug one fang into the delicate skin on the inside of his forearm and took as little blood as possible. As soon as it hit my tongue, I felt him shiver. And when I pulled away, he dropped to his knees. I turned and held out my hand to Ayato. He frowned, but let me take his wrist. When he dropped to his knees, I turned around and faced the others.

"W-What are you doing?" Sona stammered.

"You all want to see if I'm bonded to you, right? Let's find out." I held out my hand to Shuu, who'd already told me that he felt my bond to him. So when I took a drop of his blood, he dropped just the same as the other two. Laito almost shoved his hand at me, and I noticed that he'd already bit himself for me. I licked up a drop and he convulsed before dropping. Kanato bit himself for me as well and shivered once before going down. Reiji gave me a look before I held out my hand to him.

"You'll have no one left to protect you if you do this," he warned. "And we won't be able to protect ourselves for at least a few minutes. The hunter knows that." I just nodded and took his wrist, as well.

And suddenly, this felt like a terrible idea. But it wasn't before Reiji grunted and dropped to one knee. When I turned, and saw each of the brothers lying on the damp floor, some shuddering, others convulsing and all moaning, I felt extremely vulnerable.

"How… did you do that?" Sona asked, and I was just happy that her first reaction wasn't to stab them all. "How can a human make vampires submit like that? How can you do something like that?"

"I told you. My relationship with them is special. But I still can't have you trying to kill my… friends. Take this as a sign of good intentions. They will not hurt you. I promise. Can you believe me now?"

"Tell me how you did this!" she shouted. "If hunters can learn how to control vampires as you just did, we can eliminate them from this world completely! You have to tell me what you did!"

"I trust them," I said, wondering why my voice came out sad. "And they trust me…"

"Why would you go this far for creatures that can only bring you pain?" Her voice sounded sad, as well. And I had the feeling it had something to do with her father's death. It would be hard to listen to what I was saying when all she knew about vampires was that her father hunted them, and they had killed him. But I had an answer for her question, and it was something that I'd been meaning to admit to myself for a while now.

"They don't bring me pain. They bring me happiness… And it's because I love them."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Twelve:**

It didn't take Sona very long to understand once each of the brothers was on the tile floor of the shower room. Although, it still didn't seem like she knew I was a vampire. And I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell her that or not, for fear that I might truly be in danger, then.

"Tell me how you did that to them," she commanded. She was still gripping the knife in her clenched fist. "How can a human make vampires submit? You do realize the possibilities, don't you? How easy it would be for hunters to finally take control and destroy these monsters—"

"I told you to _stop_!" I screamed. "I will not let you hurt them. Ever. And I will not repeat myself again. Put down the knife and stop threatening them."

She lowered the knife a bit, but didn't put it down. "I told you, Yui. I'm just trying to help you. Vampires are no friends of humans. They're barely friends with each other. Always fighting. Always killing. They're all the same." She paused, but then glanced at them all, laying on the cold floor, all staring at us, wide-eyed. Sona took a careful step towards Subaru to the right and I moved to stand between the two of them.

"I only did this to them to prove that you can trust me. So please, trust what I'm telling you. They aren't a threat to anyone."

"The only explanation is that you've been blinded from the truth somehow. Maybe that one has a power through touch," she said, pointing to Ayato, "And he may have done something to you out there when he kissed you. But for you to try and defend him after he threatened Ereka like that… I can't figure out why just yet, but they've got some hold on you. And I swear, if they threatened you into doing this, I will help you. No matter what."

She took another step forward, this time closer to Ayato.

"Stop it! They haven't threatened anyone!" I yelled, but she took another step. I heard one of the brothers growl, and a couple others made a stressed noise, like they were trying to get up. "Sona, stop moving! Please!"

"You'll understand… I promise. You might not get it now, but you'll thank me later, Yui." She started walking forward, quickly, heading straight for Subaru. I stepped forward to meet her and grabbed her arm. She yanked herself away with a force I wasn't expecting… A force that seemed almost non-human. Was that some kind of hunter's power? I didn't have any time to think about that, because Sona was gripping the knife and standing above Subaru. His eyes glowed red as he snarled up at her. His eyes clearly said that he would have snapped her neck in a split second if he'd been able.

I grabbed her arm again and she spun, slapping me across the face. I yelped and fell, as my palms slammed against the floor to block my face. The brothers all growled in unison, and I understood. It was obvious that as a hunter, she must have some kind of strength. Maybe it was in her blood, or maybe it was something else, but I wasn't going to be able to beat her in a fight with only my simple human strength, Awakened vampire or not.

"Sona, please!" I cried, watching as she lifted the knife and swung it down. I screamed. " _Subaru_!" And I must have blinked, because his hand was up in the air before I saw him move, and the knife wasn't drenched in blood. His face was distorted from the strain, but he'd lifted his arm just in time. Somehow, he managed to deflect it, and I felt my body move without thought. I stood back up and tackled Sona. I'd been hoping to knock her to the ground, but instead she only staggered a bit away from the white-haired vampire. She whipped around and glared at me.

"They'll be able to move any second now! Do you not realize that?! Then they're going to kill us both!" she yelled at me.

"Not both," Shuu said slowly, standing. In a flash, he grabbed me and shoved me behind his back, facing Sona and hitting her knife out of her hands, leaving it to slide across the floor and hit the far wall with a clang. "Just one of you." He raised an arm and I quickly grabbed it from behind him.

"No!" I cried. "No one is killing anyone!"

"She was going to kill Subaru," he said flatly, ignoring me. "And I'm not bonded to you. I don't have to obey your commands." He pulled his arm back and grabbed Sona by the arm. She yelped in pain, and without thinking, I jumped onto Shuu's back and dug my right fang into the side of his neck. He grunted and grabbed me by the hair before I could get any of his blood, pulling me over his shoulder. I cried out in pain, grabbing at his hand. I felt the wind rush past me as he flipped my entire body in one motion, and caught me on the down-swing, my feet already on the ground. He pulled me against him and snarled. "You will not leave yourself unprotected like that again. Do you understand?"

I gulped. My scalp was throbbing. It was rare to see him express anything besides boredom or disinterest, much less anger. I noticed that he was holding me tightly against his side with one arm, and his free hand was still gripping Sona so tight that she was in visible pain. She tried to break free, but she stopped when she realized how futile her attempts were.

"He's right," Subaru snarled, pushing himself up and standing. He staggered one step to the left before standing up straight and glaring at me. The others were all getting up, and it seemed like the consensus was that I'd done something extremely wrong. They all looked like they were angrier with me than with Sona.

"You've had your fun, Pancake. Now let us handle it from here."

"Just hold them there," Reiji sighed. "We'll snap the girl's neck and then we can all get on with our day. This interruption was very unnecessary and unwarranted. I'll have to apologize to my teacher for leaving in the middle of class without so much as an "excuse me"."

"No!" I cried. Struggling against Shuu was impossible. "Ayato! Subaru! Please, listen to me! Don't let them hurt her!"

"Sorry, Yui," Ayato shrugged. "But she didn't just threaten us. She hurt you. She needs to die."

"But!" I stammered. Reiji was going to snap her neck… He was only a few paces away now. "But you're bonded to me! You have to listen to what I say! Stop him! _Protect her_!" He was beside her now. I looked into her eyes and for some reason she was looking at me. She was filled with terror. " _If you do this, I'll never forgive you! Any of you!_ "

Reiji paused and looked over at me. His expression was bored. "Then what would you have us do? She'll obviously try and kill us again. And for all we know, she could be targeting you now, too. We would have to have someone watch her at all times, and frankly, Yui, it's not worth the trouble to save one human life."

"Let me talk to her. Please. Just give me a few minutes alone with her—"

"No," Subaru frowned, but he sighed in what seemed like defeat. "One of us will stay. Shuu, let go of them."

"Whatever. If she tries anything, I'm severing her head. No more talk."

Shuu let go of me first, and after a few moments, released Sona, who whimpered and cradled her arm against her chest. She took a darting glance at the knife in the corner, but Subaru flashed over to it and picked it up, sliding it into his back pocket, out of view. The brothers began to walk away, one at a time, until Ayato smirked and winked at me before rounding the corner. I was glad to see he was still being lighthearted. Shuu and Subaru remained, and nodded at each other. Shuu glanced over at me and snarled, baring his fangs, and I jumped… _What_?

"We'll talk later," he growled, and my eyes quickly darted to Subaru for some kind of support. Shuu was gone in an instant, and Subaru looked at the ground before meeting my worried gaze.

"You tried to take his blood…," he whispered, and he sounded disappointed. It struck my heart, but I didn't understand. Shuu was going to kill Sona. I had to do something, but they made it seem like I'd been stabbing him in the back instead. I'd taken the brothers' blood before. What was the big deal this time…? But I had another problem right in front of me, and I needed to focus. Subaru pulled out the knife and began twirling it between his fingers in the corner. Sona watched him with wary eyes.

"Sona," I said softly, and after a couple seconds, she looked back at me. Her face was difficult to read. "I want to explain everything to you, if you'll hear me out?" She didn't reply. "They'll only leave you alone if you're not a threat to any of us—"

"I kill vampires. It's what I do. You should have let them kill me."

"Will you listen to what I have to say first?"

She looked over at Subaru, frowned, then looked back at me and nodded once. This was it, then.

"First things first… Do you know what the Awakening is?"

Sona tilted her head. "Isn't that… some medieval procedure that vampires created to make more of their kind when they were almost extinct? They experimented on little human girls to breed more vampires. It ended up killing a lot of people, and there was a zero percent success rate. Just what you'd expect from ruthless monsters," she spat.

"Well… yea, it's something like that. But… there's one case where it worked."

"Impossible. I would've heard about it somewhere."

"It's not impossible. And I'll tell you about it right now… I'm not human. I used to be, but I went through a transition and now I'm…"

"A vampire," Subaru said, throwing the knife up in the air and catching it, his eyes following the movements of the blade.

"Subaru," I warned.

"What? If you're trying to save her, you have to tell her everything, and see how she reacts."

I frowned, but when I looked back at Sona, realization was dawned on her face. "A… vampire? That's why… you took their blood. They listened to you. That one was feeding on you… You've turned them into a coven? But I can't sense you at all… You feel like a normal human to me."

"That's because she _was_ a human," Subaru trailed on, still watching the knife as he played around with it. "It's strange because we can sense her as a female vampire, and so can others of our kind. We're drawn to her because we can smell her female blood. We didn't realize that you couldn't sense that until you said so before. That's strange, but good. She doesn't have any of our abilities, so she's still as fragile and weak as a human would be. There's no way she could fend off a hunter like yourself if you had targeted her like you've done to us."

"So you… slept with them?" she asked in disgust. I frowned again.

"Not all of them…" I trailed off… Not yet, at least.

"You plan to, though? How am I supposed to believe that they aren't holding something over you? Or they haven't threatened you? Nothing about this makes any sense. You took their blood, so each of them is already bonded to you anyway."

"Actually, that only works because I'm bonded to them." Sona narrowed her eyes as if I was trying to deceive her. I frowned once more.

"We're still trying to figure out how this whole thing works," Subaru added. "There are many things that don't make sense to us because she's the first female to survive the Awakening."

"And how does that happen anyway? The Awakening was always a failure because vampires would destroy the girls before they even had a chance to try and live through it all."

"They protected me…" I said, looking down. "From myself… From other vampires… From each other…"

"What? _Why_?"

Subaru threw the knife so hard that it whizzed past me and stuck an inch into the tile floor, right beside Sona. We both yelped in surprise. Subaru flashed beside me, and Sona jumped back a step. He ran one of his hands through my hair and bared his fangs for a moment. He then paused and turned to Sona.

"It doesn't matter why. The point is… we're going to continue protecting her. So, if you want to keep your head, don't hurt her again. And try not to threaten my brothers, either. It's probably best to avoid us altogether, at this point. I would even advise getting out of town. Shuu doesn't seem too happy with you sticking around, and Laito might kill you for sport. And I just don't like you…"

"If you're going to kill me, then just get it over with, monster."

Subaru smirked, and I didn't like it. It wasn't friendly in the slightest. "The only reason you're allowed to live now is because my mate would get upset if I were to bring you harm. If you're going to stick around this place, then you should remember that at all times."

"So, you've bonded to her then?" She eyed Subaru up and down. Her eyes were hateful, but backing down, however slowly.

"I'm sure you know what that means if you try to hurt her again…"

"Sona, please just agree to be peaceful with them," I said.

"What does that even mean?" she spat. "Vampires killed my father. I can't trust any of their kind."

"Then just trust me for now, okay? Agree that you won't hurt them, and they won't hurt you, and we can all just—"

"But you're _one_ _of_ _them_. I can't trust you, either."

"That's too bad," Subaru shrugged, walking over to the knife and ripping it out of the floor. He stood in front of Sona, tossing it into the air again a few times, taunting her.

"I don't care if you want to trust me or not, okay?" I said. "All I'm saying is that we can make a truce right here, and no one has to die, or get hurt, or anything like that. You never have to talk to any of us again, but can we all just go our separate ways and not hold grudges or anything. Can we just forget this ever happened, _please_?"

It took a long few seconds, but Sona eventually frowned, still wary of the knife, and then nodded.

"Good," Subaru said, pocketing the blade again and instantly flashing away, leaving me alone with Sona, looking defeated, and more like the shy girl I'd known before this whole incident even happened. I opened my mouth to say something to her, but the school bell cut me off and she turned without a word and walked out of the locker room.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I would have really enjoyed the day going by super-fast, so I could have gotten home and relaxed, but there was still way too much going on. First, I'd almost completely forgotten about what happened with Ayato in front of practically our entire grade, and Ereka's mock-declaration of war. And not to mention the fact that Shuu was angry with me, and I was going to have to talk to him later… I didn't even know what I was supposed to say to him, and I didn't fully understand why he'd seemed so infuriated. And Subaru's disappointed look had me worried. It was definitely another culture thing—something about vampires that I didn't know yet. I wonder what it was this time… And hopefully I hadn't done something like tell him to go die in an alleyway, or anything crazy like that. With vampires, I came to the realization that anything I did could mean something completely different.

I went through the next few periods without seeing a trace of the brothers or Sona. But what I did get was a bunch of angry glares from girls that must have been part of Ereka's group, or people that heard the gossip. No one talked to me, though. It was a slow and lonely day for the most part.

"Yui!"

My head snapped up to attention and I looked up at the projector screen. The teacher was staring at me, one hand on her hip and a mean scowl on her face.

"Please refrain from daydreaming in my class, young lady. This material will be on the midterm, so I suggest you open your notebook and start paying attention."

"She's too busy thinking about what she's going to do to Ayato-kun tonight," one girl whispered, and a few other giggled around me.

"Or what she's going to get," another one snickered, "Seems like she'd be a rag doll from what I heard."

"Ayato likes that kind of girl? The submissive types? Maybe I should change my game plan, huh?" another one laughed.

"Oh, please. She can have Ayato. There are plenty more of those brothers to go around. And Laito doesn't seem like the type of guy to pin himself down to just one girl, if you know what I mean—"

"You don't even know them!" I hissed, and the teacher whipped around again.

"Miss Komori! Is that you again?! Stop making trouble or I'll send you to the principal's office!"

The girls around me all pointed and giggled again and my face turned beat red. Why was this happening to me? Why was I getting into so much trouble all of a sudden? And was this going to end up being how I went about my school life from now on—like an unwanted class clown? I didn't want to be used for amusement, and the way they were talking about the Sakamakis… It was making me angry—

"Excuse me," a voice said, and I turned to see Subaru at the door. "I need to steal Yui away for a few minutes, if that's okay?" The teacher grumbled something, but nodded at him.

"Make it quick, Miss Komori."

"Yes, ma'am." I stood, and Subaru motioned for me to grab my backpack, too. I frowned, but grabbed it and headed out the door. He let it close behind me, but not before a few of the girls made some extra comments.

"I guess one brother just isn't good enough for her," was the last thing I heard as the door shut, and the silence of the empty hallway hit me.

"W… What is it?" I asked, looking down at the ground. I wondered if he knew what the girls had been saying. I wondered what he thought about it, too.

"You were stressed. I could feel you from across the building. I just thought maybe you'd need a minute to step out of class…" He lowered his eyes and I looked up at him. Was he… embarrassed? I blushed, but then forced myself to smile at him.

"Thank you, Subaru."

He frowned and looked away, and I could've swore a light blush hit his cheekbones. "Yea, well… You've got to give this human stuff a rest every now and again. It's hard to determine what I should and shouldn't be doing for you."

I had to stop myself from laughing so I wouldn't give him the wrong idea. Instead, I just took a quick step forward and buried my head into his chest. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed as tightly as I could. It took him a moment, but he lifted an arm and placed it over my shoulders in what I assumed was his interpretation of reciprocating a hug in this case. I couldn't help my giggle at that, though.

"Thank you, Subaru," I whispered again, and this time he squeezed me a little tighter. He lowered his head and raked his fangs across my cheek and down, tracing my jawbone. I shivered as he neared my throat, and for a moment I was going to stop him, but then I remembered that this was how vampires showed affection. I breathed out slowly and leaned into him as he bit down and immediately withdrew his fangs, sucking slowly from the two marks he left there. I nervously looked over his shoulder but there was no one else in the hallway. I focused on the corner at the very end of the hall, imagining someone coming around the bend. But no one ever did, and Subaru licked at the two punctures for a couple minutes before pulling away.

"I healed them. You should be fine now, right?"

I nodded and smiled up at him. He looked confused for a second, and then leaned forward hesitantly. I blinked up at him and noticed that he glanced at my lips. I smiled again, trying not to laugh, and pushed myself up on my tip toes. He glanced away for only a second before breathing out and meeting his lips to mine. It was more tongue and teeth than anything else, as if he as trying to bite me again. But he never did, and when he pulled away, I could still feel his fangs against my lips and the taste of his saliva in my mouth—with a slight hint of my own blood.

"Thank you," I said softly. I couldn't help but say it over and over, but he just nodded at me. "I mean it," I pushed. "Out of everyone, you're the only person who's really trying to understand and recognize my human side, while the others are trying to make me move past it."

"Well… it's not like it can't be frustrating at times," he murmured.

"But still… thank you for not trying to change me."

"None of us are trying to change you. You must be misinterpreting the others' actions."

I smirked. He was still looking away from me, and his face was still a little pink. Maybe now wasn't the best time to have a conversation… but another thought hit me and I couldn't help but open my mouth again.

"Subaru… Before you bonded to me, did you… feed on other people?"

"What do you mean?" he shook his head.

"Like… Ayato told me that while the others aren't bonded to me, they will no longer force me to feed them because I'm not a human anymore, so… He said that Shuu and the others were going out at night and…"

"Drinking from others." He paused. "Of course. We all do. In my case, _did_. We have to or we'll starve."

"So, you… drank from another girl before we…?"

"That bothers you…" He frowned. "Would you rather I hadn't and starved to death?"

"No! No, of course not… It's just… Thinking about it…"

"You're getting upset. Is it jealousy?"

"Well…"

"It's not as if I slept with any of them. I simply took human blood because I was thirsty."

"I mean… you couldn't sleep with them anyway, though…" I trailed off when he raised an eyebrow at me, as if I was missing something obvious. "What?" I asked.

"Why not?"

"What? What do you mean, why not? Don't you… bond…?"

"To female vampires, yes." He stared at me for a moment, definitely feeling the rush of complex emotions I was feeling after hearing his words. "Yui… you didn't think we all… had never…?" He paused. "I see… You didn't realize it. I'm sorry, I would have told you in a different way, had I known."

Things were getting a little clearer for me now, but still confusing. "Reiji told me a while ago… that you're all… older than you look… But you're the youngest, right? Do you mind telling me… how old you are?" And with all their extra years… what did I really know about the brothers? What if they were thousands of years old, with thousands of years of… experience?

"It's not as big of a difference as you make it sound…" he trailed off. "I'm barely ten years older than you. My brothers don't go much past twenty years past me. It's not as if we're over a hundred. We still have the ways in which we age. For instance, our father can be taken, easily, for a thirty-five year old human male, but he's nearing his hundred and ninetieth year. For us, we'll all look this way for a few more decades. And that could possibly be the way you age, as well, now."

"And… how many people have you… been with?"

He frowned. "I… I never thought of counting."

"But why? Why would you sleep with a human if the only reason you sleep with anyone is to have children? That doesn't make sense if you don't have sex for pleasure…"

"If a human is experiencing something that heightens their emotional state, we can taste it in their blood… It just makes it taste better if we're… pleasuring our prey… Or scaring or harming them."

"Like… what you did to me when I was human…?"

He nodded without breaking eye contact. "We don't consider enhancing our prey as "sex," as you like to call it. We can still only mate with one female throughout our lives. I don't consider what I do to my prey as anything I would do with you."

"Like… I'm not good enough?" I knew it was a stupid question, and I regretted it as soon as I asked.

"Good enough? For what, exactly? For _torture_?"

"I doubt any human girl would think you sleeping with her was torture…"

"Are you flattering me? Or being dumb?" he spat.

"It's not like you all didn't do it to me in the past anyway!" I shouted back at him, but I didn't want it to go this way. We were having such a… _human_ moment before, and it just turned into this mess. I didn't even want to argue with him, but everything that came out of my mouth was instigative and passive-aggressive. I knew it was because I was hurt, learning that I wasn't any of the brothers' first…

"What do you want from me?" he asked angrily. "We're all vampires. This is what we do. If you have a problem with what we are, then you need to take some time to get over it on your own. And if you end up going through a full transition, then maybe you'll understand." He hissed and backed away from me. "I may try to meet you halfway as a post-human, but the least you could do is give me the same in return."

And then he flashed away, leaving me alone in the hall with only the lingering aura of his anger.


End file.
